The Ark
by Emporer339
Summary: Roxas is an adventurous teenager who likes to hang out with his friends. He harbors a secret crush for Olette and is slowly making his way towards confessing. However, that is the least of his worries. A secret Organization is planning something devious involving people Roxas is deeply connected to and it is up to him to foil their plans. Roxette and NaruHina. R'n'R please.
1. Struggle under the azure sky

**Chapter 1: Struggle under the azure sky**

Roxas stared up at the azure sky, pondering over the day's events.

'It looks beautiful' he thought to himself, calmly watching the clouds pass below the blue sky. The wind caressed his face as he slowly drifted off. The grass below him swayed with the very wind that gently pushed against both the clouds and Roxas himself. The sun shone with the intensity that would be expected on an average summer's day in Twilight Town, giving Roxas a warm feeling. It was the perfect kind of day to do things outside. The bells of the station tower could be heard in the distance and annoyed the young blonde slightly, telling him that the time he has left to laze around on the grass was getting much shorter.

"Why is the sky blue" Roxas thought out loud. Before he even realized that he'd said it, the other blonde in his group of friends began pondering over Roxas' question.

"I dunno man. I heard it has something to do with the sea or something." Hayner pulled a confused face and looked towards Roxas' direction without moving his head.

"No, it's the other way around; the sea is blue because of the sky." Explained Pence, opening one eye to look up at the few clouds that were scattered around the sky. Olette, the only girl and seemingly only responsible member of the group laughed at these remarks.

"What's so funny?" Hayner and Pence asked in unison.

"That's what everyone says…" she began. "Everyone talks about how the either the sky or the oceans are blue because of reflections and all that, but I was told that it was something to do with the scattering of molecules in the air and some other sciency stuff like that." Olette smiled, feeling intellectually superior to the two boys. The three looked at each other and began laughing light-heartedly; entertaining each other's contribution to the question. When they stopped laughing, Pence and Olette returned to watching the sky and Hayner looked over to Roxas who still seemed confused as to what just happened.

"That's a weird question to ask anyway Roxas." Hayner said as he smirked at the embarrassed boy he called his friend. Roxas leaned his head back so that he could see Hayner, who was still staring at Roxas in a comical manner.

"I didn't mean to, I just, well, it kinda… just came out." Roxas explained as best he could, which got the other three to start laughing again.

"Hey, stop laughing!" Roxas exclaimed as he leaned forward so that he could turn to face them. The laughs slowed down and Hayner returned to his previous position where he laid on his back and watched the clouds. He paused momentarily to admire the vast blue sky that Roxas had just brought to his attention. The clouds were sparse, showing off the beauty of the Azure sea of air above Twilight Town.

"It was just a joke Roxas, it's not like any of us pay much attention to your crazy remarks anyway." Roxas threw Hayner a glare playfully but it was ignored. Hayner was too absorbed with looking up at the sky wandering around his thoughts inside of his brain. His face was so calm it was almost as if he had no emotions at all. Roxas shrugged off his glare and looked quizzically at Hayner's expressionless face for a moment before returning to lying on his back again, his eyes dotting from cloud to cloud this time. The group remained in silence for a long while, it wasn't an awkward silence as they were all relaxed and absorbed in their cloud watching session, but it was beginning to border the uneasiness that would soon be felt by all four of them. All of the friends (except for Roxas who was still pondering over his question) tried to think up some conversation starters, but to no prevail. Hayner seemed relaxed, but was aching to get a conversation going, Pence frowned a little, hating that he could sum up the courage to break the silence and Olette made a worried look that would be associated with a situation like being lost or coming across some sort of obstacle that no one knows how to get past. Hayner breathed out sharply and finally summoned up the courage to talk. Returning to his calm face, he looked straight at the sky above so as to look like he wasn't worried that he'd look like an idiot for breaking the silence.

"So Roxas, you hear about the upcoming struggle competition next week. I hear Seifer's gonna be signing up. Could be a chance to get some payback y'know." Hayner continued to look as calm as ever, but was killing himself inside, hoping that Roxas would answer soon.

"Oh, right I forgot!" Roxas exclaimed as Hayner wiped the sweat off his brow in relief. "What, do you mean by payback? Payback for what?" Roxas asked in a plight to receive answers from the still seemingly emotionless Hayner. Hayner wondered on a good answer to this and came across a sentence that nearly made him snigger and lose his cool face that he was working so hard to maintain.

"For his many years of douchebaggery." Hayner said as calmly as he could. Roxas pulled a face and leaned forward once more so that he could turn to face Hayner. There was a pause between the two, both not knowing what to say. Then Roxas laughed, and laughed some more. He returned to his original position and continued laughing, setting off his three friends. Even Hayner laughed, breaking his calm face to reveal a near sinister grin. The four laid in their cross shape laughing until Roxas stood up. They all faced him as he looked towards the station bell tower, where they normally sit at the end of the day. He looked above it, watching as the clouds passed over it.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Roxas asked in a demanding voice. He turned to face Hayner who was now giving Roxas a rather surprised look. "If we wanna take on Seifer, then let's sign up. We'll mop the floor with him and his entire gang if we have to!" Hayner's surprised look turned into a grin. He was going to enjoy this greatly. The gang agreed in unison and they all stood up. After giving Roxas smiles, grins and cheers, Hayner, Pence and Olette ran past him to reach the sandlot where the sign ups were taking place. Roxas however, stood his ground and turned to get a glimpse of the sky beyond the bell tower. There was a small patch that stood out from the rest of the sky, slightly turning a near light purple.

"Roxas!" a familiar voice called out. Roxas lowered his gaze to see Olette's emerald-green eyes staring back at him. She pulled a smile. "Aren't you coming with us? This was your Idea after all." Roxas paused for a moment, continuing to stare at Olette for a bit, making her blush slightly but feel a little uneasy also.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you guys in a second." He replied. Olette nodded and ran over to the sandlot to catch up with the others. Roxas watched her run and after she was gone from his sight he returned to looking at the oddly coloured patch of sky. It blended in with the azure well and so was hard to make out, but it was definitely there. He shrugged and began walking slowly towards the sandlot.

'Wait a second.' He thought to himself. 'This was Hayner's idea.' He smirked at the thought of being praised for the idea that he only helped to put into action and continued to make his way down towards the sandlot.

* * *

When Roxas arrived, Hayner and the gang were already waiting. Hayner stood with a smirk on his face and called out for Roxas to hurry up. Roxas walked up to the board with the list of names on it. Hayner had already signed up. He reached into his pocket for a pen but found naught. He patted his pockets and looked around worriedly. Hayner shoved a pen in front of Roxas face and Roxas quickly brought his head back in reaction to this, turning to face Hayner who was giving his usual smirk. Roxas took the pen and began to write his name on the board. As soon as he had finished, he heard a voice which sound was enough to tick him off.

"Hey Roxie! You're not actually signing up for the struggle are you? What a joke!" Roxas turned around to see Seifer with his arms crossed, smiling so that his teeth were showing. "Y'know that you'll be beaten right? Why don't you leave the fighting to us adults?" Seifer commanded as he ruffled Roxas hair playfully. Roxas brought his right hand across his left and swung it backwards, narrowly missing Seifer's chest. Seifer recovered from his dodge backwards and laughed. "Looks like the little kid has some anger issues" He said attempting his best to wind Roxas up. "It looks like I'm gonna have to take disciplinary measures!" He exclaimed as he brought his left hand up to point at himself." He and Roxas stood facing each other for a few seconds before Roxas interrupted the silence.

"Well, are you gonna take those measures or are you too scared that this 'little kid' is gonna sweep the floor with you?" Roxas glared at Seifer.

"Oh, this is just priceless. You really can't wait until the struggle to get beaten up can you huh?" Seifer produced a struggle bat from some unknown location in his white trench coat and pointed it straight at his face. "So, what do you say Roxas? You wanna settle this here and now?" Roxas growled at Seifer and looked around for his own weapon. Spotting a struggle stick that had been carelessly left on the floor of the sandlot; Roxas dived for it and forward rolled with it in his hands. He turned to face Seifer, who had been tracking Roxas with his bat the entire time.

"You haven't got your gang to protect you this time!" Roxas shouted as he readied himself for the coming battle. The two glared at each other for nearly half a minute, checking each other for weak spots or openings in their stance. Mostly they were just staring at each other angrily. Seifer's bright blue eyes met Roxas' sapphire blue eyes; both were locked in a menacing glare. Roxas made the first move, running at full speed towards Seifer, who was still standing and aiming his bat at Roxas face. As soon as Roxas was close enough to take a swing, Seifer jumped out-of-the-way, sending Roxas into a wobbly halt where he had to dodge roll in order to stop himself from crashing into the ground. He turned in time to see Seifer swing at him. Roxas blocked two attacks before rolling over to the side and jumping backwards to give himself time to prepare.

Seifer stood his ground, staring at the spot that Roxas had just left and turned his head so that he could meet Roxas gaze once more. Roxas pulled off an angry look and prepared his stance. This time Seifer made his move, jumping to a near unbelievable height. Roxas looked up at him and was hit with intense sunlight. He could not see and automatically reacted by putting his arm in front of his eyes.

"Roxas look out!" shouted Olette as Seifer pounced on the young boy. Roxas barely dodged out-of-the-way and tried to recover too quickly, making him lose his balance. Seifer quickly swiped at Roxas who was struggling to keep up with his much stronger opponent. Seifer repeatedly swiped at Roxas from different directions, continually dealing on the pressure. Roxas recovered quickly and attacked Seifer's good arm. The older blonde easily brought his forearm up and twisted his hand backwards, blocking the attack. He then twirled the bat with Roxas' struggle bat still in contact. This threw Roxas off his balance and Seifer took this chance to knock Roxas' bat out of his hands. Seifer grinned, he was about to defeat the annoying squirt with one final blow. He brought his arm up, ready to strike down. Roxas took one step back and looked up at the bat, his mouth gaping.

"Roxas!" Hayner shouted, worried that his friend would be beaten. When Seifer brought his hand down however, all were surprised at the result. Roxas had caught the struggle bat in his hand! Roxas was looking down, his hand still raised, holding the bat tightly. He looked up and gave Seifer a menacing glare.

'Impossible!" Seifer thought to himself. "I used full force!" Seifer had barely any time to react before the boy before him snatched the bat and twirled it in a similar style to Seifer. Roxas caught the handle and swung horizontally, knocking Seifer over. Roxas panted, still in his stance from hitting Seifer. Hayner, Pence and Olette stared at their friend in near disbelief. Just as Roxas stood up straight, Seifer's gang ran into the Sandlot towards Seifer.

Fuu and Rai both stood in front of their downed leader and looked at the boy that defeated Seifer.

"Seifer's just not feeling himself today, y'know!" Rai said as Seifer got off of the ground. Fuu remained silent, but crossed her arms into an X shape. Seifer dusted himself off and gave Roxas a serious look.

"Just you wait for the struggle tournament Roxas. Just you wait…" Seifer gestured his gang to leave and the three walked out of the sand lot. Roxas stared at them as they exited and was startled when his three friends jumped him. They all pulled smiles and congratulated him on his win, complimenting him along their lines. Hayner stood in front of Roxas and smirked at him.

"Hmm, what's up?" Roxas asked. Hayner put out his hand in front of Roxas and continued to stare at him. Roxas looked over the hand before returning Hayner a confused look.

"Sea-salt ice-cream on the strong kid." Hayner explained.

"Awww, man!" Roxas complained as his friends laughed and made their way over to the ice cream store. Roxas trailed behind, slowly at first but picking up his pace as he thought about going to the bell tower with his friends.

* * *

As the four sat on the ledge of the bell tower, they thought about past times and joked about Roxas' win over Seifer from earlier that day. Roxas stared blankly at his ice-cream.

'I can't believe they made me pay for these.' He thought to himself. Looking at the slight orange shade that the ground below was caressed with, he turned his gaze to the sky. 'Orange. I wonder why the sky changes colour.' He mentally thanked himself for not saying this out loud and trailed off in thought. 'I wonder if that purple patch in the sky is still there.' Roxas thought about taking a peek around the side of the tower but decided against it.

"Roxas, you gonna eat that or what?" A very feminine voice asked. Roxas came to his senses and turned his head to see Olette smiling at him. He turned a little red but hid it. "Your ice-cream is melting." She explained, pointing at Roxas sea-salt ice-cream. Roxas turned back to his ice-cream. She was right, it was melting… all over his trousers.

"Ahh." Roxas said annoyed at the mess it was making on his trousers. He rubbed his trousers with his free hand and used the other to stick the ice-cream in his mouth. No sooner had he rubbed off the mess than he had received a brain freeze. He took the ice-cream out of his mouth and patted his head. By this time all three of his friends were watching. When he realized this, he stared back at them and they started to laugh. Roxas eventually joined in but secretly hated being laughed at. He knew they were only messing with him and using this moment as an excuse to make another happy memory out of, but he still resented it a little.

"So, you ready for the struggle competition next week." Hayner shouted over to Roxas. Before he could answer, Pence butted in and criticized Hayner's use of words.

"It's a tournament, not a competition!" Pence said as politely as he could.

"Same thing!" Hayner said, annoyed by the interruption.

"I think a tournament is a type of competition." Olette explained, giving her usual smile. The three started to laugh again.

'Same as always.' Roxas thought to himself as he stuck the sea-salt ice-cream back into his mouth. He looked up at the sky, towards the point where the azure blue was slowly getting swallowed by the ever-growing sea of orange. 'Same as always.' Roxas smiled.

* * *

**Not bad for the first chapter of my first ever fanfic right (hopefully). More to come. R and R please.  
P.S Please inform me of any spelling errors or missing words. That would be very much appreciated. :) (This includes such things as... writing 'he' when it should be 'she' misspellings that I have not managed to notice, missing words (for example- " is a cool guy." when it should be "Roxas is a cool guy." - You wouldn't believe how many times this has happened so far) and MAJOR grammar errors that make you go 'OMG WTF ROFL.' Minor grammar errors will be ignored as if I change all of my grammar errors I will practically have to rewrite the entire story.**


	2. Swirling winds among a grudge match

**Chapter 2: Swirling winds among a grudge match**

"What a beautiful morning." Roxas said to himself as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He had just woken up from a near sleepless night. It was near sleepless because Roxas had been exited for a particular reason. What that was however, eluded him. "Wow, talk about morning memory loss! What was I thinking about last night? I know that it was important. He continued attempting to remember what it was that was so important as the light in his room grew ever more intense. "The sun is still rising; I guess that means that it must still be early. Maybe I can catch a few more winks before I head out to meet the guys."

The light continued to shine through Roxas' window as he smiled with content. He was just about to drift off when… "For goodness sakes! What was I thinking about last night?" The subject was beginning to bug Roxas greatly. He rubbed his forehead in frustration. "C'mon silly head, remember!" The rays of light refracted through his window as the sun reached higher, shining light into his eyes. He covered his eyes with his left arm and turned his head, following the trail of light onto the far wall. Amid all of his memorabilia and other things, he spotted his calendar hung up on the wall. It read 'Struggle Tournament TODAY!"

"The struggle!" He shouted, nearly falling out of bed as he did so. He jumped onto his feet and made his way for the door, not bothering to make his bed. "My clothes!" He remembered, turning back to search through his wardrobe. Upon opening the doors of his wardrobe, he was visually smacked in the face by black, white and red. All of his clothes looked exactly the same, a fact that makes the time he spends picking his clothes out rather unusual (That would be nearly ten minutes). He stripped down and put on his casual wear (which, as mentioned before, is the same as all of his other wear), taking his sweet time in the process. After he had accomplished this, Roxas then slung his only necklace around his neck and checked himself in front of the mirror. Fairly pleased with his look, he checked his bedroom clock for the time, coming to the not so pleasing conclusion that it was much later than he had originally thought. The struggle was taking place in fifteen minutes.

Roxas literally leaped out of the front door to his house, hitting the ground running. He ran at full pelt towards the Sandlot, where the tournament was taking place. After the long run and the occasional bump into other people along the way, Roxas arrived at the Sandlot. It was very much the same as before, except for the large stage in the centre and the chalk boards that had been set up at the back. He looked over the people surrounding the stage. Some were competitors; some were volunteers, helping to run the struggle but most were here to watch the tournament.

"A lot of people this year." Roxas announced quietly. He began to feel the pressure of all the eyes that were going to be nervous. 'Don't tell me I've got stage fright!' Roxas thought to himself, annoyed at his nervous attitude.

"Roxas!" Familiar voices called out. "Roxas, over here!" Roxas turned to see his three friends, Hayner, pence and Olette, standing at the far side of the Sandlot. He smiled and began walking towards them. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of the purple patch in the sky. It was slightly clearer now, and much bigger. He stopped for a second and looked closer.

"Could have sworn there were some guys up there." Roxas stared at the rooftops in front of the purple patch, wondering if he was seeing things.

"C'mon Roxas! We haven't got all day!" Hayner shouted, making Roxas lose focus of what he was doing and return to making his way over to his friends. They all threw him a smile and started making small talk, which they all detested, but did anyway. The announcer got up on stage and started calling out the names of the participants.

"The first participant this year is none other than Seifer, this town's self-appointed disciplinary committee leader." Began the announcer. Rai cheered at this but Seifer and Fuu remained silent. "Our second contestant is Hayner. I know he has some bad blood with Seifer's gang so this should get interesting." Both Hayner and Seifer gave the announcer an angry stare. If he noticed, he didn't show it. "Our next contestant is popular among the store owners and best friends with our second contestant. He could be none other than Roxas!" Hayner and Olette both gave Roxas a pat on the back. He smiled at them and returned to watching the announcer. "Our fourth and final participant is new to town so give him a big welcome. Sasuke!" Roxas looked over at the dark haired boy who leaned against the back wall. He didn't make a sound, but he acknowledged his name with a nod.

The crowd began cheering, knowing which name was to come next.

"And who will be able to beat their opponents, and receive the chance to steal the championship belt from our defending champion…" Before he could finish, an array of fan girls started to chant the name.

"Setzer, Setzer, Setzer!" Setzer walked onto the stage and waved to the audience. He then lifted up his belt to confirm himself as the title defender. The silver haired man walked with an uncanny grace and lifted his head up high as he walked off the stage.

"Doesn't that guy just tick you off?" Hayner asked his friends. The three just looked at each other and shrugged. The announcer cleared his throat and prepared to announce the first match up. Suddenly, the audience became quiet.

"The first battle taking place today is between Hayner and Sasuke!" He announced. The crowds cheered as they watched the towns own little knucklehead go up against the new guy. Hayner stepped up onto the stage and stood in front of the slightly shorter Sasuke. The announcer told them the rules and handed them their bats. Hayner heard his friends cheering him on, but ignored them to talk to Sasuke.

"So, you the silent type?" Asked Hayner. The boy that stood before him looked down at the floor for a bit, before slowly bringing his head up to bear. Suddenly, Sasuke changed the speed of his gaze and looked Hayner straight in the eyes, pointing his fist at Hayner.

"NOPE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Hayner was so startled by this reaction that he was nearly thrown off balance. "I'm Sasuke Uzumaki of the swirling winds clan and I'm the guy that's gonna win this fight, believe it!"

"Swirling what?" Hayner questioned, still a little dazed from the Sasuke's reaction. This kid was making no sense what so ever. Hayner became even more confused when he looked closer at the boy's eyes. The irises were nearly colourless and he couldn't seem to find the pupils. "What's up with your eyes?" Hayner continued to question the boy who was growing ever stranger.

"Oh these?" Sasuke pointed at his iris and was given a slight nod from Hayner. "That's my dojutsu! But don't tell anyone. It's my super special technique!"

"Do-what?" Hayner shook his head and decided against making this conversation last any longer. He prepared to fight, as did Sasuke. Sasuke pointed at his headband with his left hand and twirled the bat in the other. "Show off!" Hayner said.

Sasuke stopped twirling the bat and made a swing for Hayner's face which was easily dodged. Hayner prepared to make a strike back as Sasuke stood and observed him. As soon as Hayner made his attack, Sasuke ran towards him, inviting the attack. Hayner immediately stopped in his tracks, turning his attack in for a defensive stance. Sasuke dived and caught Hayner's legs with his bat, knocking five orbs out. He dodge rolled and made a dash for the orbs. Hayner was able to collect three before his opponent snatched up the rest. Hayner prepared to take Sasuke on again, watching his opponent much closer this time around. Sasuke grinned. He ran towards Hayner again readying his bat at his right side. Hayner stepped to his right and swung at his opponent. Surprisingly, Sasuke did nothing to stop this and the bat made contact with Sasuke's chest making him flinch a little. Sasuke swung his bat around with full force, hitting Hayner in his side just a fraction of a second after he himself had taken a hit. Sasuke stopped running immediately and turned to directly face Hayner, swinging his bat multiple times. Hayner struggled to keep up, occasionally letting a few hits get through his defense Sasuke then swung horizontally, knocking the struggle bat out of Hayner's hands. Hayner's eyes followed his bat as it flung off the stage. As soon as Hayner looked back at Sasuke, he was hit with a vertical swing to his left shoulder, causing him to drop to one knee. Orbs sprayed out of him like he was leaking. Hayner looked down at the floor, mouth gaping due to the pain. He suddenly came to his senses and looked up at Sasuke. Sasuke brought his bat to his left, bringing his left foot back in preparation. He then stepped forward, swinging his bat with full might, connecting with Hayner's face, sending him flying as literally every orb poured from his body.

The crowd stared at the spectacle in disbelief. Hayner crashed into the ground and rolled onto his back, breathing heavily and trying to ignore the pain. Roxas, Pence and Olette couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"Wow, what an end to the first match. Who would have guessed the new kid had so much potential in this tournament?" The announcer asked rhetorically. "It looks like Roxas to Seifer are gonna have some real competition when it comes to the finals!"

Sasuke walked up to Hayner and stood above him triumphantly. Hayner looked away.

"I told you that I'd win." Sasuke said as he reached out his hand to help Hayner up. Hayner pushed the hand away and got up, not bothering to look Sasuke in the face. He then walked back over to his friends and sat in the single chair that was positioned by them.

"Aww, man!" He said as he slapped his left hand onto his forehead. "I can't believe I lost to that dweeb!" At first his friends looked concerned, but then they laughed. "Shut up, guys! It's not funny!" Hayner demanded, quickly breaking out a grin as he did. Once the laughing stopped, he turned to Roxas. "Hey, Roxas. I'm counting on you to win this." Roxas nodded. "If this kid beats both of us, our gang will never live it down."

"C'mon." Roxas rubbed his nose. "Who do you think you're talking to? Of course I'll win!" Hayner gave him a grin and Roxas patted the back of his head, laughing slightly. Olette put her hand on his shoulder and he turned his head so that it was face to face with her a little. He blushed slightly and everyone noticed. Pence and Hayner laughed at him but Roxas blamed it on nerves.

"Good luck." Olette said, putting on her usual smile.

"Oh, thanks." Roxas replied scratching his cheek. 'Oh, thanks! Is that the best you can come up with?' Roxas thought to himself. 'Why am I even worrying about this? It's just Olette right?' Roxas sighed heavily. He woke up from his inner thoughts when he was shoved towards the stage.

"Hurry up Roxas. It's your turn." Olette explained as she pushed him onto the stage. Roxas met up with Seifer on the centre of the stage as Olette waved him off. He stared back at her, blushing a little as he did. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying much attention to where he was walking and ended up smacking into Seifer's chest.

"Hey, nimrod!" Seifer exclaimed into Roxas' face. "How about you spend less time staring at your girlfriend and more time actually paying attention!" Roxas was startled at this remark.

"S-She… She's not my girlfriend!" Roxas said as Seifer made odd looking kissy faces.

"Oh, whatever loser! It doesn't matter whether she's your girlfriend, lover or even your sister!" Seifer said as he took a struggle bat from the announcer. Roxas was slightly confused by this remark. "What matters, is the outcome of this battle." Seifer pointed his bat at Roxas face. Roxas took his bat and prepared to do battle with this idiot. For once, Roxas agreed with Seifer, but that in no way would change how this was gonna pan out.

"Yeah, and the outcome will be that I win!" Roxas announced with great confidence. Seifer sniggered at this and jumped backwards to get some distance.

"It's not gonna be like last time Roxas!" Seifer began. "This time it's serious!"

Roxas brought his bat to his left side, holding it tightly with both hands. Seifer was pointing his at Roxas' face again, swaying it a little more violently than usual. This time around, Seifer made the first move, dashing around to his left with unbelievable speed, curving around to attack Roxas from the side. Roxas readied himself in a defensive stance and rolled out of the way just in time, swinging his bat back in an attempt to hit his opponent. Seifer simply leaped over this, flipping in the air and landing sideways from Roxas with one leg and arm down on the ground. He turned his head to look at Roxas and pushed down with his hands, recovering quickly and gaining into a charge. Roxas barely had time to react. He was knocked flat on his back, rolling backwards onto his feet just in time to stop Seifer from getting a second hit in. Seifer collected all eight orbs that were dropped and prepared to charge again. To Roxas surprise, Seifer ran backwards, towards the edge of the stage.

"What, you gonna chicken out?" asked Roxas in order to wind Seifer up.

"As if I'd ever run from you!" Seifer shouted from the other end of the stage. He suddenly leaped up into the air, higher than ever before. Roxas looked up, stunned by this move. "Roxas, you look a little awe struck!" Seifer shouted as he kept gaining height. "You should be enjoying this!" Seifer stopped gaining height and fell towards Roxas, spinning around with his arms holding his struggle bat out. "Isn't this ROMANTIC!?" Seifer shouted playfully as he smashed into the point that Roxas had just dodge rolled from. Seifer used his hand to keep himself up and continued to spin in the air, making his way towards Roxas. Seifer hit the ground with his bat every few spins to keep himself in the air and he eventually caught up with Roxas, whose face was directly next to Seifer's at this point. Seifer leaned his body back so that his legs could catch up. Seifer was now completely upside down and face to face with Roxas, hitting the boy in his side. However, Roxas did not even flinch as the orbs shot out of his other side. He instead grabbed Seifer by his shirt, pulling him down and smashing him straight into the ground. Seifer gasped from the experience and was hit in the head as Roxas brought his struggle bat down upon him. A large amount of orbs sprayed out of Seifer, causing him to panic. He tried to get up, but his head was throbbing and all the spinning had made him dizzy. Roxas ran around and absorbed most of the orbs, a few being reabsorbed by Seifer because they were near him. The timer stopped and the battle was over, with Roxas the victor.

Rai walked over to the announcer who was about to congratulate Roxas on his win.

"Roxas used his hands, that's gotta be a foul y'know!" Rai demanded rather rudely.

"There is nothing in the rules about not using hands to drag each other. It is only breaking the rules if he punches his opponent." The announcer explained to the annoyed Rai.

"Aww, this sucks y'know." Rai said as he walked off.

"Well, it seems that those two were able to make this round just as exciting as the last!" The announcer exclaimed. "And what an exciting day it's been! Once we finish our ten minute break, the two struggle legends Roxas and Sasuke will fight it out!"

'Legends?' thought Roxas. 'That sounds a bit grand for winning one match.' Seifer got back up onto his feet and walked past Roxas, bumping his shoulder as he did. Roxas glared at Seifer but it was ignored. 'What a sore loser!' He thought.

"Roxas!" His friends called. Roxas turned towards his friends and made his way over to them, smiling as he did so. The four cheered at Roxas' victory and talked about how grumpy Seifer looked as he walked off stage. The laughter and cheering was interrupted by Sasuke, who tapped Roxas' shoulder and smiled at him.

"What do you want?" asked Hayner.

"I wanted to congratulate Roxas on his win." Sasuke explained. He turned back to Roxas. "Looks like you're going up against me in the next round huh?" Roxas nodded. "Well I hope you're prepared. It certainly looks like you are from that last match I just saw." Sasuke said this in such a way it felt like he wanted to be praised just for watching the match. Roxas ignored this.

"You bet I am!" Roxas curled his hand into a fist.

"Good." Sasuke said. "It'll be fun fighting someone as tough as you."

"I'll see you on the stage then." Roxas confirmed. Sasuke nodded at it. "Erm… It's Sasuke right?" Sasuke nodded again.

"Yeah, cool name right? My dad named me after his best friend!" Sasuke pointed at himself in the same fashion as before.

"Well then Sasuke…" Roxas began. "I, Roxas, challenge you to an all-out fight. I don't wanna see you holding back, give it your all and I will to." Roxas' friends gasped at this offer. Sasuke shut his eyes and faced the ground. His hands balled into fists and shook. He looked like he was going to cry. Suddenly, Sasuke punched his fist into the air and shouted, staring Roxas directly in the eyes. The fact that Sasuke didn't seem to have any pupils unnerved Roxas a little.

"ALL RIGHT! No holding back, that's my kind of style!" Sasuke shouted whilst pointing at Roxas. The four friends stared for a moment before bursting into laughter. Sasuke joined in too, scratching the back off his head. The announcer could be heard as the five teens laughed.

"The third match will begin. Who will win the Struggle trophy and prize of 3000 munny!? Will it be Sasuke with his unmatched skill and finesse?! Or will it be Roxas with his acrobatic abilities and pure determination!? Let the struggle commence!"

* * *

**What do you think of Sasuke Uzumaki? That's a little treat for any HiNaru fans out there. The next chapter will be about the fight between Sasuke and Roxas so keep an eye out for when I make it. Rate and Review if you like.  
P.S I'm sorry for any grammar errors for those of you with a critical eye.**


	3. Clash of the determined

**Chapter 3: Clash of the determined  
**  
The sun shone its rays of light down upon the two teens, showing their faces as clear as they could be. They both smiled at each other, giving the impression that they were too friendly to hurt one another. However, they both took their deal very seriously.

"No holding back right!" Sasuke said with his smile now turned to a grin. Roxas nodded and took his bat from the announcer. The crowd cheered the two on, most rooting for Roxas because he was already well known in the town. Some fan girls could be heard chanting Sasuke's name (simply because they found him cute). "Are they always like this?" Sasuke asked looking at the group of girls who are somehow already wearing t-shirts with his head on it.

"They change who they are fan girls of nearly every week." Roxas explained. Sasuke turned back to face Roxas who was still a little unnerved by Sasuke's eyes. The announcer shouted out that the final was to begin and the two prepared to fight. Roxas' expression quickly changed his expression to a slightly less friendly one and brought his struggle bat to his right side.

"You shouldn't keep doing that." Sasuke said with a grin still stretched from cheek to cheek. "I've seen you use this technique already; I could see your every twitch using my byakugan!"

"Your what?" Roxas asked, further confused by this boy.

"I may not be allowed to use it now, but when I was off stage I used my dojutsu to monitor your every move. I've got this your technique down to every last detail!" Sasuke began twirling his bat with enough speed that it looked like it was spinning two ways at once. Roxas pulled a confused face. He had no idea what this guy was going on about. "Oh, and I noticed that you liked that girl over there!" Sasuke pointed past Roxas head. Roxas turned to see what he was pointing at and noticed Olette standing at the other end of Sasuke's point. She looked confused as to why he was pointing at her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Slow down, I don't…" Roxas tried to explain before he was interrupted.

"Oh, come on. The way you were looking at her, you weren't even paying attention to where you were walking. You turned redder than a ruby!" Sasuke pointed at Roxas and laughed.

"Hey, knock it off!" Roxas demanded. He gave Sasuke a menacing glare that stopped the laughing in its tracks. Sasuke rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

"Besides, I think she likes you too." Sasuke pointed at Roxas again, smiling an unusually large smile.

"She does?" Roxas said as he looked in the general direction of his friends, trying not to make it obvious that he was staring at Olette. He felt a sharp pain jolt through his neck and fell to the ground.

"You should never show your back to the enemy!" Sasuke exclaimed, pointing his struggle bat at Roxas' face. Roxas stood up just in time to block the next attack. He pushed forward and Sasuke jumped backwards to get some distance. He grinned at Roxas and the name chanting stopped. The crowd once again, became silent and prepared to watch the battle between the two strongest competitors of the day. Roxas rubbed his neck and returned to his usual battle stance.

"No holding back, got it!" Roxas charged at Sasuke who then prepared his next move.

"Predictable." Sasuke said under his breath as he dashed to his left, stopping himself with one foot so that he toppled over and rolled many times. He landed on his feet and quickly came to a halt, running at Roxas as soon as he regained his balance. Roxas swung at the brunette, but Sasuke leapt over this attack, flipping in the air and landing directly behind Roxas. Roxas just had enough time to turn as Sasuke dropped to a single knee, brought his left arm back to use it's momentum to bring around his 'bat arm', lunging at Roxas' face. Roxas moved his head, making the attack narrowly miss. Roxas ran backwards, making another one of Sasuke's attacks miss. He breathed heavily. Sasuke was so fast, it was disorientating. The first attack had made Roxas lose a lot of orbs; he needed to make a hit. Sasuke stood his ground and slashed the air sideways. Roxas panted, he was already exhausted. He looked around for some sort of help. Sasuke left no obvious openings, the crowd was beginning to chant Sasuke's name in prediction to his triumph and his friends looked disappointed.

"It looks like I might not be able to keep my promise, Hayner." Roxas said as quietly as he could. He stared at his friends. It seemed that they were the only ones still rooting for him. Hayner looked irritated that the new kid was beating the two best fighters in their gang, Pence was amazed by Sasuke's skill and Olette gave Roxas an encouraging smile. Roxas heart lifted a little. He felt lighter. 'Of, course.' He thought to himself. 'I've made more than enough promises that I'll do my best to win this fight. But that doesn't matter. I can't let my friends see me lose. I can't let her see me lose like this. It is for that single reason… It is for that single reason that…'

"I won't allow myself to LOSE!" Roxas shouted. He sprinted at Sasuke, preparing as he did so. Sasuke prepared to jump out of the way, hoping that it would throw Roxas way off balance.

"What the…!?" Sasuke looked at Roxas who was already right on top of him. Roxas jumped to a low height and brought his bat down on Sasuke. Uzumaki only had enough time to block this attack and had to stick one leg far back as his body was being pushed with immense force. "Such strength!" Sasuke announced, surprised at his opponents new found power. The boards beneath his feet began to crack and splinter. Roxas continued to further deal out more and more pressure. Sasuke dodged backwards, getting hit in the arm as he did so. He skidded a bit before losing his balance and rolling backwards. Roxas did not diminish his strength after Sasuke had gone however, smashing the stage with his bat, making a large hole where it had been splintered. Sasuke came to a halt and picked himself up from the ground. He looked at Roxas half with joy of the fight and half with fear. The blonde teen stood before the hole in the stage, his bat still lowered. He breathed out and looked directly at his opponent. Sasuke felt a chill run down his spine.

'Is this the same guy I was fighting before?' Sasuke and the crowd looked upon Roxas in disbelief. Roxas walked around the hole and collected up the orbs. He was still losing, but not by as much as before. Sasuke prepared to attack, taking care to watch Roxas' movements as best he could. The two ran at each other and clashed struggle bats. Sasuke swiped at Roxas, causing orbs to fly out. Roxas didn't react to this, instead lunging straight at Sasuke's chest, forcing him backwards as the end of the bat dug in. Sasuke gaped his mouth in pain as orbs shot out of his back. Roxas stretched his right arm out as far as he could, forcing Sasuke to move backwards. He then slashed downwards and horizontally. Sasuke dodged both of these and made some distance between him and Roxas.

'Damn, his technique has changed!' Sasuke thought, realising that Roxas had completely changed his style of fighting. Roxas panted heavily. He was still exhausted, but forced himself to move. Both were equally matched, both were out of breath and both were determined not to lose. "I see you've kept your end of the deal!" Sasuke shouted over to Roxas, referring to the deal they made about giving it their all. Roxas laughed.

"You've been…quite a tough…opponent yourself!" Roxas said in-between breaths. He stepped forward and prepared to fight again. Sasuke did the same. They clashed again. The crowd watched as orbs flew out of both contestants. Occasionally some blood followed. The way both of them were holding out under such violence was unreal. By the near end of the match, both were injured and slightly bloody. Roxas and Sasuke stood face to face, breathing heavily out of exhaustion. The two had sustained enough injuries that would make most people collapse in pain.

"I… *pant*… don't… *pant*… think that either… *pant*… of us will be able to… *pant*… to hold out for much longer" Sasuke said in-between breaths. He was obviously exhausted. Roxas simply nodded. He was too out of breath to even talk. The timer was slowly counting down to zero. Roxas readied himself.

"Don't give up now!" Roxas shouted. Neither of them even knew who was winning at this point… they didn't care. They were both simply determined to use their full power.

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Sasuke began. "I'm gonna win this in style!" He pointed at himself in his usual fashion.

"Then let's finish this!" Roxas shouted as he jumped backwards. Sasuke copied this and they both ran towards each other at full pelt, their struggle bats trailing behind. They both shouted at the top of their lungs as they did so.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"  
They brought their struggle bats around with all the force they had left. Both Sasuke and Roxas were hit square in the face with these attacks knocking them both down and sending almost every single orb they had flying. The timer reached zero and both parties had collapsed on the stage. Roxas looked up at the sky; its beautiful radiance bathed him in the suns light. The crowd were completely silent except for a few whispers and Roxas' friends were all hoping for his win. There was a long pause. For Roxas and Sasuke; it felt like an eternity. Hayner leaned on the edge of his seat, not daring to leave it.

'Did he win?' Thought Hayner, nearly tearing up from the tension. Pence looked at the two contestants, amazed at the spectacle.

"Who knew Roxas had it in him?" Pence asked, hoping his friends would have an answer. Olette shrugged and looked back over to the strongest boy in their gang. She worried for his safety. The announcer conferred with the rest of the judges and helped them recount the orbs. He walked on stage with a stride, a little worried by the collapsed boys and the near silent crowd, but doing his best not to show this. He stopped walking and stood up straight. Seeing the audience all look to him, he cleared his throat and spoke…

"What… A… Battle! This has to be one of the tensest battles I have ever seen in my time! Whoever is the winner of this match is surely deserving of the 107th struggle tournament trophy!" The announcer expected a big cheer from the audience but was instead met with even further silence. "We've counted up the score and have come to a conclusion!" It seemed like the entire audience leaned forward to better hear this announcement. "…And the winner is... By a shocking one orb….." The entire crowd, Seifer's gang, Hayner's gang and Setzer himself listened in closely.

The announcer cleared his throat again, taking a pause to let the tension pull tighter on the crowd. "ROXAS!"

The crowd cheered for the young blonde, chanting his name as they did so.

"Roxas, Roxas, Roxas!" Somehow all of the fan-girls had changed their t-shirts into Roxas t-shirts and everyone else threw their hands in the air, whaling the winner's name into the air. Roxas lay staring up at the sky, partly because he was too injured to move but also because he wanted to.

"The sky is beautiful." He said to himself. He began thinking of other things that fit into that category. Certain buildings, decorated gardens, art and many other things. Suddenly, Olette's image popped into his mind and he turned red.

"Can't stop thinking of her huh?" Sasuke said, leaning forward. Roxas moved his head so that he could see Sasuke's face. Sasuke's eyes were much more visible now. There were thin lines around where his pupils would be and the blood vessels in his eyes were very visible. Unusually, the veins around his temples had swelled up, subsiding. After a five second pause, these effects subsided and Sasuke stood up. Taking care that he didn't fall over as he did so, he walked over to Roxas and gave him a hand. Roxas looked at this, surprised by Uzumaki's generosity.

"That was a good fight!" Sasuke sounded a little choked. Roxas continued to stare at Sasuke's hand, pausing to see unusual scratch marks on its palm. Worried that Roxas' reaction would be similar to Hayner's; Sasuke began to pull his hand away, only for it to be grabbed by the blonde teen who was on the floor of the stage.

"It was wasn't it?" Roxas asked rhetorically as he smiled back at Sasuke. The two walked off stage and parted ways. Roxas walked over to his friends who were busy chanting his name.

"Roxas, what's up with you? How come I never knew you could fight like that?" Hayner asked, staring at Roxas with one eyebrow lifted. Roxas just smiled at him. "Hmmm, come on Roxas! Gimme an answer!"

"I wanna know too!" Olette exclaimed as she pushed past Hayner.

"Yeah, me too!" Pence joined in. Roxas looked a bit flustered from all the attention.

"Well…" He started. "I guess I just got a good reason to fight well now…I think." The three all looked at each other and sighed.

"Oh brother, if you're not going to tell us you might as well have just kept smiling that goofy smile of yours." Hayner said pointing at Roxas mouth. The four laughed and Roxas rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed. When they calmed down, Hayner began to walk away.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Roxas asked. Hayner stopped so that he could turn to face Roxas.

"I'm starved, it's about time we got some food don't you think?" Hayner grinned.

"I can't leave now!" Roxas said, frustrated. "I gotta fight Setzer in ten minutes!"

"I know. That's why I'm bringing the food back here." Hayner turned and began walking again.

"Wait for me!" Pence shouted as he caught up with the taller Hayner.

"I should have known that you'd come along when there's food involved!" Hayner said playfully.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Pence replied. The two laughed as they walked out of the sandlot. Roxas was left with Olette, which left him in an awkward position. He was too embarrassed to talk to her and if Sasuke was right, she probably felt the same. There was a long awkward silence between the two. Roxas looked away from her, occasionally looking over at her when he thought she wasn't looking. He swallowed his fear and summed up the courage to speak. He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to face him, staring him in the eyes. Roxas could feel his heart thumping as if he was still in battle.

"Hey Olette. I…"

"What's up Roxas!?" Hayner exclaimed as he slammed his left hand onto Roxas' shoulder. Roxas froze solid.

'Oh crap! Did Hayner know what I was gonna say. He scared the living daylights out of me!' Roxas panicked inside his head as Hayner turned him around to give him his food.

"Are you alright Roxas?" Hayner asked. "You don't look so good." Roxas had turned twenty different shades of red. He was embarrassed, shocked and overall uneasy about what was going on. "I guess it must have been that fight with Sasuke. Here, have this and cool off." Hayner handed Roxas a boxed meal from one of the diners close by. Roxas sat down and stared at the box for a moment, still a little shocked by Hayner's sudden appearance. Hayner stared over at Roxas and was about to ask him something when Olette interrupted his train of thought.

"Where's pence?" She asked. "I thought he was with you." Hayner grinned.

"You know him right? He's still at the diner, deciding what to have." Hayner laughed for a bit. "Man was he annoyed when I told him that he could only spend 300 munny. He couldn't decide what to leave out." Hayner laughed some more and threw Roxas a big smile. Roxas tried to ignore this and began eating his lunch. When the taste hit him, he realised something.

'Oh, man. I haven't even had breakfast today!' Roxas began piling the food into his mouth, polishing off the meal within less than three minutes. Hayner and Olette both looked at him in shock. Pence returned just in time to see the spectacle and simply smiled. Roxas wiped his mouth with his arm and stood up triumphantly.

"All right!" He shouted. "I'm ready to go!" Hayner tried to stop Roxas from jumping onto the stage, but wasn't fast enough.

"Roxas, you still have a few minutes before the match starts!" Hayner called out. Roxas ignored him and ran until he was at the centre of the stage. He pointed at Seifer and called him up. The silver haired man complied and walked onto the stage as profoundly as he could.

"You should listen to your friends, boy. You will need your rest if you want to go up against me." Seifer explained.

"Just shut up and fight!" Roxas said as he snatched a struggle bat from the announcer. Seifer Smirked and took his. The fan girls suddenly split into two groups. One chanting Roxas' name and the other chanting Seifer's. The Roxas fan girls all wore a checker t-shirt with his name and face on it. They also wore the same arm band as Roxas and a replica of his necklace. The Setzer fan girls all wore t-shirts with an image of Setzer holding a rose printed onto it. They also wore the exact same coat that he wore over his shoulders, the only difference being that their coats had his name printed in a strange font on the back. 'Where the hell do these girls get these things?' Roxas looked at them all, confused by the fan girl groups who seemed to defy the very laws of nature.

"Roxas." Setzer began to get the young blonde's attention. "I have a deal to propose." Roxas looked at him, even more confused than he was before. "How about you throw the match for me. You could save yourself a lot of hassle." Roxas gave him the evil eyes to answer his proposal. "Oh come now Roxas. I'll make it worth your while." Roxas looked around at his fan girls and caught a glimpse of one of them trying to give a Roxas fan girl t-shirt to Olette. She grabbed the shirt and smiled at Roxas, making him blush a little. He turned back to Setzer, who was still waiting for an answer.

"Get real!" Roxas shouted as he prepared to fight. Setzer chuckled a little, and then began laughing.

"Very well, Roxas. Have it your way. Just remember that when you lose this fight, it's your fault that you didn't… benefit from this experience." Setzer glared at Roxas, who remained silent.

"Let the final match between today's strongest fighter and our defending champion begin!" The announcer shouted out to the crowd. The fan girls squealed with anticipation and the rest of the crowd looked on as the two great strugglers crossed struggle bats.

Roxas attacked the much older man with his full strength, but was easily blocked and repelled. Roxas attacked again, trading strength for speed this time. He managed to lay out multiple attacks in quick succession but was still parried by his opponent. Setzer moved slower and seemed weaker than Roxas' other opponents. He did his best to make his actions look cool rather than actually using skill.

'So why can't I land a hit!' Roxas thought to himself. His vision began to blur and he began seeing multiple Setzers. The battle he had with Sasuke was finally catching up to him. Roxas felt his legs wobble and he coughed loudly. Doing his best to regain his balance, he ran to the side, foreseeing Setzer's attack. He readied himself; this was going to be a tough battle for him. He was in no condition to fight, especially after that blow to the head from Sasuke. Setzer tried to speak to Roxas but the teen couldn't make out what he was saying. Roxas was determined to win this fight. He considered pausing for a moments rest, but decided that it was best to stay on his guard.

"Do you feel Sora?"

"What?" Roxas questioned the voice. It was familiar, like he had heard it somewhere before. 'Do I feel Sora?' He thought to himself. 'What was that all about? Don't tell me I've finally lost it!'

"Are you done daydreaming?" Setzer asked as Roxas regained his senses. "Good, I'd hate for you to…" Setzer wasn't able to finish his sentence before Roxas attacked. Setzer dodged backwards, startled that Roxas was still able to move that fast. He lunged at Roxas who dodged to the right and swung a landing blow at Setzer's side. Setzer made some distance between him and his opponent. "Lucky hit, you caught me off guard. I can promise you…"

Roxas had just finished cleaning up the orbs when he attacked again. This time Setzer successfully blocked and backed away. He looked at his much younger opponent. It seemed like he could hardly stand yet he executed his attacks with precision and whatever strength he had left. 'So determined!' Setzer was shocked by the boy's resolution to go on fighting despite his condition. The silver-haired man charged at Roxas, delivering his might into a single blow.

"You're finished!" Setzer shouted as he brought his struggle bat down on the boy. Roxas lifted his bat up and blocked this using all of the strength he had left in him. The two were locked together and Roxas used this opportunity to move his face closer to Setzer's. He could now clearly see the scars on the man's face. There were too many to count. Too many for a man of this class.

"I won't allow you to win." Roxas said almost silently.

"Huh?" Setzer said, confused. Roxas moved even closer to his much older opponent. Setzer's eyes glowed red with ambition and resentment.

"I won't allow… someone like you…." Roxas readied himself. "To defeat me!" Setzer opened his eyes a little wider. "Raaaagh!" Roxas shouted as he pushed forward with might that wasn't possible to obtain in such a condition. Roxas turned and swung around as Setzer was still moving backwards from the push. Setzer looked on in astonishment. Roxas eyes looked as if they were glowing a sapphire blue as he exerted every last ounce of energy into one last attack.

Orbs flew in every direction as Setzer was flung across the stage. Roxas lost his balance and was unable to recover due to his lack of energy. The siren sounded, marking Roxas victory. The crowd cheered and the fan girls all united under the banner of Roxas, who had just managed to make it back onto one knee. He stared at Setzer as the silver-haired man brushed himself down. Setzer did not bother to look back at the boy and strode towards the stairs. He paused and then turned, pointing at the sapphire eyed boy as if he was about to say something really memorable.

"Roxas!" His friends cheered as they ran past Setzer. The man was now scarred both in body and ego. He walked off stage with as much pride as he could sum up.

"Roxas, I didn't know you had it in you!" Hayner said happily as he helped Roxas up onto his feet. He slung Roxas' left arm around his neck and the four friends walked off to collect the trophy, prize money and belt.

* * *

The wind parted almost completely around the hooded figure, his imposing appearance unnoticed due to the commotion on the streets below.

"He's gotten stronger hasn't he?" Said the figure, turning to his left so that he could see one of his acquaintances.

"I think your right Riptide my man!" Said the acquaintance.

"Riptide? I thought that you would have had my real name memorized by now." The figure said as he tapped his hood with his index finger. The acquaintance chuckled.

"Your Roxas was pretty good I guess." He said as he looked at the blonde from the rooftops. "But that Sasuke… He showed quite the artistic performance."

"Hah." The figure chuckled. "Sasuke may have been skilled but he was no match for our little sapphire eyed prodigy here." He waved his hand in the direction of the specified person. "On to business anyway. You can tell Breeze that Roxas… has finally broken off from Sora completely."

* * *

**I don't think that was one of my better written chapters but tell me what you think in the review section. I know some of you are here for Roxette so I'm gonna make the next few chapters less focused on the fights and more on the romance. I hope you're enjoying this so far and are looking forward to future chapters.**


	4. A far off voice and a Twilight wonder

**Chapter 4: A far off voice and a Twilight** **wonder**

Roxas l lay on his bed with his hands behind his head, pondering over certain unimportant things. He looked painfully at his calendar and grumbled.

"Only six days 'til back to school!" He threw his pillow at the calendar in frustration. It missed. "Oh man. There's so much more to do!" He sat up and stared at the wall blankly.

"Rise and shine Roxas!" A familiar voice called from outside his window. Roxas was a little stunned by this sudden noise and turned to see… nothing. The sky was blue and clouds passed over it peacefully. Roxas rubbed his chin.

"I could have sworn that voice came from right outside my window." Roxas stared at the open space in puzzlement.

"Roooxaaaaas!" A very different, feminine voice called out. Roxas looked outside his window, then to the streets below. Olette was standing there, waving. "Roxas, you're finally awake. Hayner said to meet at the usual place nearly half an hour ago!" Roxas continued stare down at her for a moment.

"Oh, hey Olette. Is it really that late?" Roxas turned around to see his clock ticking away. It was 10:30 in the morning. 'Wow, I really did wake up late didn't I.' He turned back and called down to Olette.

"Hey, Olette, wait a sec… I gotta…"

"No time. I'll see you at the usual place. Olette interrupted before she dashed off into the streets. Roxas frowned. 'She was awfully quick to leave.' He stared down the roads, looking at the spot where she disappeared. He brought his head back into his room and slumped back onto his bed. 'Five more minutes maybe.'

* * *

Sasuke walked down the path before him. It seemed unusually long. He paused for a moment, wondering if he should turn back before he gets lost.

'I guess the roads are larger in this town than the leaf…' He felt goose bumps run around his body. "Was that… chakra? He scanned the area around him. "But no one here has chakra!" He looked behind him to check if he was being followed. 'Could it be him?' "Byakugan!" The veins around his temples bulged and his pupils became clearer. A man in a black cloak stood on top of the rooftops. He stared down at Sasuke, refusing to move. "Are you…" Before Sasuke could finish his sentence, the mysterious cloaked man disappeared. "What the…" Sasuke grimaced. "You can't get away! Not as long as I have the byakugan!" His vision move past the buildings in front of him and he caught a glimpse of the man jumping from rooftop to rooftop. "Got ya!"

* * *

"So when do you think Roxas will get here." Hayner was slumped over in his usual spot. He stared at the opening with anticipation but also irritation. "He should have been here ages ago!"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon. I reminded him not long ago." Olette said as she pulled off her usual smile. Hayner didn't even bother to look in her direction. He was still more concerned with Roxas' arrival. Loud noises were heard from a distance, making an enormous racket. Hayner lifted his head up, raising one eyebrow. The noises became louder, almost deafening.

"What the hell is…" Before Hayner could finish his sentence; Roxas skidded to a halt before the opening to the usual spot, nearly falling over.

"Roxas!" Pence shouted waving over to him. Roxas put one hand behind his head and waved with the other. Hayner and Olette simply sweat-dropped.

'Oh brother. He really doesn't change does he?' Hayner thought to himself.

'No he doesn't change does he.' Olette thought as if she could read Hayner's mind.

"Sorry I'm late guys. I didn't mean to keep you waiting." Roxas stepped forward. Hayner jumped down from the place where he always sits and intercepted him. Roxas stopped and gulped. Hayner looked really mad. Hayner leaned forward so that he was face to face with Roxas. *Thwack* "Ow!" Roxas rubbed his head after being flicked by Hayner.

"That'll teach you for being late." Hayner remarked. "Now how about you use that near endless supply of energy you have to do something useful. He grinned at Roxas who returned the favour. Roxas sat down on the couch next to Olette and Hayner jumped back onto the metal framing that was his spot. Hayner sat on a small ledge in-between Hayner and Olette. Hayner was sat at the far side of the usual spot whilst the couch was at the right of the opening. The ledge was wedged into the corner and Pence sat on it waiting for one of Hayner's grand speeches in anticipation. The placement of these 'spots' made the left side look rather empty. Pence cracked open a packet of potato chips, provoking Hayner to shoot him a glare. Pence paused for a moment, and then attempted to eat his snack as quietly as possible. Hayner ignored this and cleared his throat.

"Ok, so as you guys should know, we only have six days before we gotta go back to school." He raised all ligaments on one hand then corrected himself by raising the index finger on his other hand. Roxas and Olette laughed. Hayner jumped down suddenly, causing them to become silent. "And as you should also know, that gives us six days to complete our assignment!" Roxas and Pence looked at him in shock.

"Oh no!" Roxas exclaimed. "I'd forgotten all about the assignment!"

"Well…" Hayner began. "There is no need to worry. I've come up with a brilliant solution!" He stood high and mighty for a moment, basking in his own brilliance.

*Ahem* Olette coughed into her balled up fist purposefully. Hayner looked down at her and was met with an icy cold glare. It sent chills down Hayner's spine.

"Oh right…" Hayner laughed. "So me and Olette were thinking…" Olette continued to glare at him. "Ok fine! Olette came up with an idea!" Olette's glare suddenly disappeared under a beaming smile. This time everyone but the person in question sweat-dropped. "We gotta find out stuff about the wonders of twilight town. Roxas frowned.

"Didn't we do this last year? Remember, the seven blunders of twilight town." Roxas tried to say it as nicely as he could for the fact that it was Olette's Idea. But he was so disappointed with last year's assignment that he couldn't bear to go through it again.

"No, this time it's for real." Hayner grinned. "Besides, we all got a B on that assignment remember." Hayner and Pence grinned in unison. Olette frowned. She was used to getting straight A's. Olette's frown made Roxas feel a little sick. He hated seeing her down like this. "So Roxas." Hayner said as he put himself in the way of Roxas' view of Olette. "Are you up for it are you just gonna sit there staring at Olette all day long. Roxas turned cherry red and backed away from Hayner so that he didn't notice.

"Hayner! Stop teasing him!" Olette demanded as she hit the back of his head with a ruler produced from some unknown location. Hayner brought his head back and rubbed it.

"You didn't have to hit that hard Olette!" Hayner explained to her. She simply beamed him a smile, making feel even more awkward. "Any way, we're gonna go out in twos and use these pre-made maps…" Hayner produced two badly drawn maps of twilight town with markers on it. Roxas, Pence and Olette all looked upon these, wordless. "… to find the wonders of twilight town. 'We'll also meet up every forty five minutes here, here and here…" He pointed at three oddly coloured markers. "To discuss what we've found and any rumours we have heard that could lead to potential points of interest." Olette looked content with the way Hayner was displaying her plan and smiled as she bobbed her head from side to side. "We will move around this area first, and meet at this area." He pointed to one of the oddly coloured markers. "And as we move across, we meet at the marker that it closest to us." He produced four small cut out pictures of cat faces with each of their hair styles and stuck them to the map. Everyone else stared blankly at what was obviously a poor representation of them. "Now all we have to do to get started…" He looked around at his friends. "Is to pick our partners." Roxas saw his chance.

"I'll go with O…"

"Me and Olette will stick together. Roxas, you look around town with Pence." Hayner interrupted. Roxas became overcome with frustration.

"Hey why do you get to go with…" He stopped in his tracks. Roxas didn't want anyone to notice that he liked Olette. Hayner looked at his awkwardly.

"You feel alright Roxas?" He brought his head closer to Roxas'. "Maybe I didn't flick you hard enough." He flicked Roxas dead centre in the forehead.

"Ow!" Roxas exclaimed as he backed away. Hayner laughed.

"Well. Olette and I are off. You guys see what you can find out." Hayner grabbed Olette's wrist and dragged her out of the usual spot. Roxas frowned deep.

"Uh, Roxas." Pence began. "We should get…" Roxas turned to face Pence. His face was as dark as night and he gave off an aura that could make the strongest of men weak in the legs. Pence froze up. "We should get going if we wanna beat Hayner." Pence said, trying to laugh his sheer fear off.

"Beat Hayner?" Roxas inquired as he returned to a normal frown. He balled his fists and stood up. "Yeah! I'm gonna mop the floor with him!" Roxas explained. Pence sweated. He remembered Roxas' fighting before and during the struggle tournament. He did not want to tick off Roxas. Roxas grabbed Pence's wrist and charged out into the streets of Twilight town, dragging Pence with him.

* * *

"Slow down damn it!" Sasuke exclaimed as he chased after the hooded. Man. 'I know it's him. I can sense his chakra.' He continued to jump across the rooftops. He wasn't getting any nearer to his target and the figure wasn't going to slow his escape any time soon. 'I gotta end this chase now.' Sasuke thought to himself as he prepared his kunai. Sasuke threw his ninja tool at the hooded man but it was deflected almost effortlessly. Shuriken whizzed past the man's hood, nearly cutting him. 'Damn, I can't hit him.' Sasuke glared angrily at the man running from him. "What?!" Sasuke's eyes widened. Using his byakugan, he could make out that the figure was making some sort of hand sign. The air before Sasuke lit up. A burst of fire expanded rapidly in front of him. Sasuke protected his face with his forearms and descended to the streets below. "Was that an explosion?" Sasuke brought his right arm back and prepared the other. 'I have to find him!' Sasuke tried to move his vision forward but was overcome with a choking sensation. He fell to one knee. 'Damn it! I used up too much chakra whilst training this morning!' He clenched the clothing on his chest and looked up at the rooftops. "I'm gonna catch you eventually! Believe it!"

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Olette asked as she continued to walk down the path.

"Hear what?" Hayner asked back without bothering to look in her direction. Olette's emerald eyes stared off into the direction that the boy's shout came from and her mind trailed off. Her face became expressionless and her eyelids closed slightly. As the sun passed into her vision, her pupils dilated to deal with the extra light that the retina were picking up. She could hear a familiar voice. It was faint, but recognisable. The voice repeated itself over and over again. With each repetition it became louder and clearer. Though her mind was more focused on the question of what the boy in the distance was shouting about, in the back of her mind, Olette began to take notice of the familiar voice.

"Olette!" Hayner shouted down her ear. Her eyelids returned to their normal positions and Olette felt a jolt run through her body as she was surprised by Hayner's shouting. She quickly turned her head so that she could see Hayner and rubbed her ear.

"You didn't have to shout that loud Hayner." She pulled a sad face and turned her walk into a fast paced stride.

"What I was gonna say was… you might wanna look where you're going." Hayner crossed his arms and matched her pace.

"Oh please, I know what I'm doing. There's no need for silly things like that. I've been down this road hundre…" Olette stopped talking when she noticed that Hayner had stopped. She mimicked his exact stance, stood straight, arms crossed and frowning inconspicuously. "There's no point trying to hide that frown, so you might as well turn it around." She pointed her index finger at him. He continued to frown at her. This time without effort to make it go unnoticed. "What gives?" Hayner removed his right arm from the cross and let the other dangle. He pointed at the ground beneath her feet. Olette looked down. She could see nothing of interest. Olette looked back at him, even more puzzled than before. "Hmmm?" Olette cocked her head.

"Your shoes." Hayner finally admitted the reason for his current behaviour. Olette looked at her shoes. The propped herself against a wall and looked at the sole of her right shoe. It looked fine. She then checked the left, finding that it was caked in a brown, stench sludge. "Eeeh!" She pinched her nose and took her shoe off.

"I told you to look where you were going." Hayner stated triumphantly. He smirked at her as she scraped the animal faeces off onto a side walk. She turned to face Hayner once again. He was sniggering at her.

"I suppose you think this is funny huh?" She pulled a grumpy face at him and glared at him with those emerald eyes of hers.

"Uh… No" Hayner said as shivers shot up his spine. Her glare was menacing. He tried his best to hide the laughter but it came through in short bursts. Olette turned away from him and scraped her shoe harder. Her face remained in its more cynical state.

"Roxas wouldn't have laughed." She explained quietly. Hayner caught wind of this.

"Roxas? He would have ten times laughed harder than me." Hayner said. He grinned as he crossed his arms.

"No. You're wrong. He would have helped me." Olette said as if she was protecting Roxas honour. "Roxas has always been helpful. He looks out for us."

"And I don't?" Hayner moved his arms out, his palms facing the sky. Olette fiddled around in her pocket for a bit. She then turned to face Hayner. Her eyes were closed and she shot him a beaming smile as she held up a small yellowy orb in her hand.

"Ok, I guess you made your point." Hayner said. "Why are you so keen on protecting Roxas anyway?" He thought about her remarks and about how she protected Roxas in the usual spot. 'Maybe she's been spending too much time with him.' Hayner summed up. He rubbed his chin. 'But what would they be doing.' He began delving deeper into the mystery he had created in his head. He thought back to Roxas' fights. 'Maybe they've been training together.' He thought about Olette with her stone cold glare, but also with Roxas' fighting prowess. A cold sweat broke out over his body and his grin faded in fear.

"What are you thinking about?" Olette asked as she slipped her shoe back on. Hayner stepped back and threw his arms out in front of his face.

"Ah, er… nothing. Not about you or Roxas or glaring or fighting or anything. Hahahaha!" He laughed uncontrollably in a feat to cover up his jabbering. Olette looked at him unimpressed.

* * *

"Aaaachooo!" Roxas sneezed. He rubbed his nose with his forearm. "Oh man. I hope I haven't caught a cold." He turned around to see Pence collapsed on the floor. "Pence, stop lazing away. We have work to do." Pence rolled over and looked at him.

"But we just stopped!" Pence exclaimed as loud as he could in his disorientated state. He tried to regain all of his full senses. He remembered how he was being dragged along by Roxas not that long ago. He nearly vomited at the thought. Roxas protected his eyes from the sun with his hand. Its golden rays bathed the streets of Twilight town in light.

'It still feels like it's the middle of summer.' Roxas thought to himself as he scanned the area in front of him. "Pence!" He shouted. The shorter, darker haired boy scrambled to his feet as he heard his name.

"What is it Roxas?" Pence asked, still a little dizzy. He wasn't used to walking quite yet. He steadied himself and walked over to his much slimmer and stronger friend. Pence thought to himself 'You might be more physically apt than me Roxas. But I'm the brains of the gang.' He smiled.

"Actually I think Olette is the smartest." Roxas said. Pence looked at his friend, startled by the statement.

"Did I say that out loud?" Pence asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes you did." Roxas said. Pence looked embarrassed and stared at the ground until another thought hit him.

"Hey. Why would you say I'm not as smart as Olette?" Pence asked angrily.

"Well she is top of all of our classes. Save for physical education. Plus she always comes up with the best plans." Roxas answered astonishingly easy. Pence frowned.

"Don't be like that Pence. There are a lot of things you're the best at." Roxas tried to cheer Pence up.

"Like what?" Pence asked. He was still frowning.

"Well…" Roxas began on a rocky start. "Ummm…." Pence's frown grew ever deeper. "You have the coolest head. You can think rationally in a frustrating situation." Roxas saved himself. "You also have the best knowledge of food." Roxas pointed out. Pence wasn't sure whether to take this as a compliment but did so anyway. His frown quickly disappeared.

"Hey, what did you want anyway?" Pence questioned his sapphire eyed friend. He straightened out his favourite red top and brushed it down as he waited for the answer in anticipation. Roxas continued to scan the area silently before returning Pence's gaze.

"I was gonna ask…" Roxas started. Pence leaned in closer to hear the coming words. "What are we actually looking for?" Pence puzzled at the question.

"Hayner already told us. We're looking for the Wonders of Twilight town you dummy." Pence laughed. "I thought you said we were gonna mop the floor with him." Pence mimicked Roxas. "At this rate, it seems like that will never happen."

"I know that we're looking for the wonders…" Roxas began. "But what are the wonders of Twilight town?" Pence puzzled over this like the previous question. Unfortunately….

"I have no idea. I didn't get a chance to ask Hayner before he shot out into the streets with Olette." Roxas frowned deeply. Pence guessed that this was because they were now stuck in the middle of Twilight town, not knowing where they were supposed to be. However, he was frowning for a very different reason.

'Damn that Hayner.' He thought to himself. 'I wanted to be partnered with Olette.' He balled his fists. "You hear me Hayner?!" Pence drew his left arm before his face in surprise. "We're gonna show you how it's really done."

'He's getting a little over competitive.' Pence dropped his arm. 'Thank god I'm the voice of reason in this gang.' He went to put his hand on Roxas' shoulder so as to steady him. Unfortunately Roxas moved away and hopped onto a short wall before Pence could reach him. Roxas lifted his fist in the air. Pence tried his best to ignore him and looked at the map. "We're definitely at the location of the wonder… at least according to this map." Pence scrunched up his face in frustration. "If only I knew what I was supposed to look for."

"Gimme that!" Roxas said as he hopped down from the wall. He grabbed the map and a small page unfolded from the back of it. Pence pulled it off and the sticky tape that was sticking it to the map glided gracefully to the ground. The paper was blank. He turned it over.

"Ah!" Pence smiled delightfully.

"What is it?" asked Roxas.

"It's a list of wonders" Pence announced. "Look, we have to research this one and Haynette have to check out these two." Pence turned to see Roxas giving a nasty glare. "Was it something I said?" Pence asked.

"Haynette?" Roxas questioned this joining of names. It sounded like Pence was trying to support their shipped romance.

"Oh it's just a name I came up with for their partnership." Pence replied.

'Partnership!' Roxas thought to himself angrily. 'He makes it sound like they're a couple.' "Roxette sounds much nicer." Roxas said without realising.

"Does it?" Pence puzzled once more over Roxas' notions. This startled Roxas. "I guess I've never given it much thought." Pence stated, obviously oblivious to Roxas more romantic use of the shipped names. Roxas sighed in relief. "Hey Roxas." Pence smiled.

"What do you think of Pexas?" Pence asked. Roxas' eyes grew wide with fear. "You know, because we're partners. Ooh, what about Rence"

"What! No way, Never!" Roxas shouted as he backed away.

"It was just a suggestion." Pence remarked. Roxas relaxed.

"So where is this wonder anyway?" Roxas was still sweating from both the fear of Pence finding out about Roxas' feelings for Olette and of 'Rence'. Roxas shivered at the thought.

"It's just over here." Pence explained. The two walked through a path with bushes and trees on either side and came across a courtyard that was star shaped with paths coming off each point. Roxas looked around.

"Wow. This place looks amazing. I didn't even know it even existed!" Roxas looked at the plants, the decoration and the very nicely laid out cobblestone and gravel. "So Pence. What am I supposed to look for?"

"It's right over there. You can't miss it." Pence pointed towards the centre of the courtyard.

"Wow that thing. It looks magnificent. I wouldn't have thought the wonder would be that. It's so… cliché." Roxas stared at it. "So that's the first wonder of Twilight town."

* * *

**Sorry that this one took longer to get out of the door (Or onto the internet so to speak). I have GCSE's coming up. You understand. I hope your looking forward to the next chapters. I sure am looking forward to writing them. Oh and a word to the wise. This story is probably going to be over a hundred chapters long (I watch too many anime to let this be short). So if your not one for long stories I have bad news. If you like long stories with a spanning plot, happy days for you. Anyway, I'm off to try starting off my next chapter. Sayonara!**


	5. Wishing for you

**Chapter 5: Wishing for you**

"It's right over there. You can't miss it." Pence pointed towards the center of the courtyard.

"Wow that thing. It looks magnificent. I wouldn't have thought the wonder would be that. It's so… cliché." Roxas stared at it. "So that's the first wonder of Twilight town." Roxas stared at it intently. It looked like it had been created just to look at and it would seem that was all people did. He could spot out no form of wear and tear or sum up any sort of fault its design has for its function. It was very graceful and artistic yet had a rustic nature to it. Whoever designed it was a master craftsman. The water sprinkled over the gold structure that gave it the creative look that really made an impact. The gold structure was in the shape of some odd looking creatures that were chasing each other whilst silver bars curved and stretched around them. It all looked a big mess, yet strangely peaceful. The base of the overall structure was circular and riddled with gold patterns. Behind the patterns was a layer of marble which was then followed by mortar.

"I've only seen this once myself. I don't know who made it. But I think they were probably paid well. They certainly earned it." Pence stated his point of view as he looked over the so called wonder. Roxas ignored him and continued to stare at it. He was intrigued by it.

"So the first wonder of Twilight town is a fountain." Roxas, whilst impressed by the fountains aesthetics, was disappointed with just how cliché it was. Pence shook Roxas to get his attention and motioned for him to look at the list.

"You're never going to believe this. Its wondrous ability is even more cliché than its appearance." Pence paused so as to build up tension. Roxas listened closely. He tried to take a peek at the list as Pence had gestured, but it would seem his shorter friend had decided it would be best to say it out loud first as he moved the list away from Roxas' vision.

"Apparently, it allows you to make a wish once every year." Pence stared at Roxas to see his reaction. The blonde remained blank as he knew that Pence wanted to provoke some sort of emotional reaction such as annoyance or some other feeling associated with disappointment. However, inside his mind he was mulling over this new found knowledge with anticipation of some sort of catch he could come up with. It remained simple and cliché.

"Of course it is." Roxas replied in a sarcastic manner. He walked closer to the fountain and began to feel the faint sensation of water trickling onto his face. He looked up at the gold structure, barely making out where the water was spewing from. The structure blocked out direct vision of sun, giving it a sort of shiny, bright aura that surrounded it and graced it with even greater beauty. Roxas' eyes followed the different parts of the structure, his vision travelling along the centre of the golden creatures. His gaze then turned to the patterns on the marble. He tried to follow this intricately designed art but he stopped himself when he realized that it was too complex for him to follow. Plus it made his head hurt a little. Roxas took a step back and admired the fountain as an art piece overall. He suddenly found himself thinking about the art he has come across before. None of his gang were any good at it. Thinking back to the art fair, he remembered they competed to see who could make the best 'piece' to go on display as the submission for all four of them. Hayner made welded some metal rods together. It looked horrendous. Pence tried to paint a bowl of fruit. It looked terrible. Olette took photographs of places in Twilight town, including those with the gang in them. She arranged them into a large collage. Unfortunately the glue she used was terrible for the task and ruined the entire thing. Roxas attempted to make some clay figurines. His friends applauded him for making such good clay monsters, unknowingly naming them so when the models were supposed to be based on them. Eventually, the gang decided to put them all together and submit them as one piece. They came second to last place. Seifer's gang won first prize due to Fuu's unknown artistic ability. She created 100 different origami animals. More than Roxas thought was possible to make. This fountain made every piece of art he'd seen up to now a boring, unattractive mess. He decided against any more reminiscing so that he could concentrate on the task at hand.

"So how does it work?" Roxas asked as calmly as he could. He didn't bother to face Pence as a grin was stretched across his face. He couldn't believe what he was doing. Asking a close friend how to use a wishing fountain. Pence pit away the map along with the list. They were safely in his back pocket. He had obviously memorized the description of the first wonder and Roxas was dreadfully waiting for Pence's explanation. Pence opened his arms out wide.

"It's simple. Once a year you get the chance to make a wish. To make the wish, you have to drop something precious to you into the water. They say that if the item disappears then your wish will come true." Pence crossed his arms.

"Oh, I thought I was just gonna have to throw a coin in." Roxas stared at the fountain before it hit him. "Wait a sec; I don't wanna put something precious in there!" He turned to face Pence.

"Well neither do I, but we still have an essay to do." Pence saw that Roxas was still unsure about the matter. "Look, I guess you just have to put in something sorta' close to you. You don't have to throw in your hopes and dreams into it." Roxas was still a little uneasy about putting something of his into the fountain. "I'll show you how it's done." Pence took something out of his pocket. Roxas strained his neck to get a look at it but to no prevail as Pence covered it with his other hand. Roxas waited for Pence to keep to his words. Pence dropped the item and it caught the sunlight, creating a ray of crimson that passed into Roxas' vision. The blonde teen quickly stepped forward and caught it.

"Hey!" Pence exclaimed. He put his hands on his hips and glared at his friend. Roxas held up the red coloured orb and let it catch the sunlight a little longer. He then lowered his hand and pointed it at Pence.

"Do you know how hard this was to get?" Roxas asked. Pence sighed as he relaxed his arms.

"I remember. You fought pretty hard during the struggle tournament." Pence reminisced about Roxas victory.

"Not only that." Roxas began. "But I broke off all four orbs on my trophy, one for each of us. It's more than something close to the owner." He continued to hold the orb up to Pence. "Every single one of these things means something to all of us. It's a symbol of our friend ship." He placed the orb into the hands of Pence, who stared over it admiringly. He looked up at Roxas and smiled.

"Well if this is too precious to throw away. Then I don't know what to do." Pence slipped the orb back into his pocket. "I was going to suggest you do the same. Plus I don't have anything else that's important." He pulled on his t-shirt. "Just my clothes." Roxas looked at Pence. His deep brown eyes looked so sincere. Roxas' much cooler headed friend was obviously rather distraught about the situation.

"I know how you feel Pence." Roxas comforted him. "You don't wanna let the others down. Neither do I." He pointed at himself. "Plus I have to beat Hayner to the mark." He smiled at his friend to empower the encouragement. Roxas looked away from Pence and took a step closer to the fountain. He admired its contexture and build. It was brilliantly designed and made. Roxas couldn't believe that he hadn't seen or even heard of it before. Moving even closer, he began to feel the sensation of trickling water again. He continued to move until he was directly in front of the fountain. The water was more frequent and had a larger mass now. He could feel it nearly splashing across his face. The water that was sprayed into the air was now in front of Roxas' view of the sun. It looked amazing. Roxas' vision moved down the artistic structure and into the pool of water that surrounded it. It rippled slightly as droplets hit its surface. The reflection it made of both the boy and the sky was blurred and distorted. There were brief moments when the reflection looked as clear as a water reflection would when the liquid is stationary. Or at least as stationary as a liquid could be. 'Olette would probably tell be something scientific like how the atoms move around or whatever.' Roxas rubbed his head with his, more dominant, right hand. 'That stuff hurts my head to think about. I've never been smart.' Roxas continued to stare at the water blankly, as if he was waiting for something. After a while of daydreaming, Roxas came back to his senses and prepared himself to lose an item that he had owned for a long while. 'I had this before I even joined the gang.' He thought to himself. He reached towards the item slowly, hesitantly, almost refusing to meddle with it. Pence, who was originally waiting to see what Roxas' actions would be, grew impatient.

"Well Roxas. What are you going to put in?" Pence asked, knowing that Roxas' movement towards the fountain was significant to his current actions. Pence was dying to know the answer to his question and waited for Roxas to make his move. The sapphire eyed teen could make out that very colour in his own reflection. As the reflection flexed and warped, the sapphire of his eyes melded with the azure of the sky and the very faint blue of the water. Roxas grabbed the chain around his neck and pulled it with a fast, strong jolt that broke the links. The small pieces of metal clanked to the ground as the teen brought the necklace pendant up to his face. Roxas knew it like the back of his hand. The pendant was in a clear 'X' shape but had more to it than such a simple shape. It also meant much more than that. It was the only memento he had left of the times before he joined the gang. Before he even met his current partner Pence. Before he met the strong hearted Hayner. Before he met Olette. Roxas' mind wandered. He couldn't think about what life would be like without his friends. Neither did he want to think about it. Trying to remember times before he joined up with Hayner and the gang, he struggled to form any images. All he could remember was a vague picture of a face with blue tear drop tattoos and red hair.

"I remember. I had a best friend back then, didn't I?" Roxas whispered to himself. "We used to do some work for some guys." He tilted the pendent from side to side. It glinted as the light from the sun reflected from it. "Then we used to get some sea-salt ice cream and sit up on the clock tower like me and the gang do now." His voice was slightly louder now. Even Pence could hear him. "What was his name?" Roxas pondered over the question, trying to reach into the furthest points of his memory. After a while, he gave up to frustration as his mind would not produce an answer.

"So what was this friend like, huh Roxas?" Pence asked. Roxas was startled by this question as he hadn't realized how loud he was speaking. He looked over at Pence, both embarrassed and intrigued. He was surprised by his friend but also wanted to know the answer to his question. Roxas knew nearly nothing about his friend from the past.

"Blue tear drop tattoos." Roxas stretched his arm out so that the pendant dangled over the water. Roxas was holding onto what was left of the chain. He looked almost emotionless as he let his memento of an old friend dangle above water. Roxas began straining his mind once again. He searched for an answer as to who this 'friend was. Pence watched Roxas closely. "He had red hair." Roxas stated as his grip began to loosen on the chain. The pendant span and swayed in the wind, often catching the sunlight as it did so. Roxas looked down at the water, admiring how it flowed. It fit in very nicely with its encasement and the structure it encased. Pence listened to the description he was being given of Roxas' friend. He was interested in knowing who Roxas used to hang out with before he joined up with the gang. Pence wondered how much he actually knew about his friends. He didn't know much about what any of them were like before they all joined up.

'Maybe I should ask Hayner and Olette about the times before they joined up.' Pence considered as his taller friend continued to remember his old friend.

"He had green eyes. Like Olette's." Roxas thought about this friend for a little bit. His image was getting clearer and clearer by the second. 'You were my best friend right, Axel.' Roxas finally remembered Axel's name. 'You would kill me if you saw me now. You always told me to have your name memorized.' Roxas looked at the pendant slip from his hand.' "He was a little bit of a pyromaniac." Roxas told Pence.

'A pyromaniac! What kind of people was Roxas hanging out with?' Pence thought to himself.

'Yeah, you used to play with fire, Axel. It was your favourite tool.' Roxas remembered Axel's affiliation with burning things, although he did not remember much about the Organization or anything else. "But it's time to put the flames out." Roxas said under his breath. He dropped the pendant and it fell. The silver X descended to the water with grace, its fall seeming like an eternity. As the pendant hit the water's surface, the liquid rippled and formed peculiar patterns caused by the impact. One of those, super-clear moments appeared for a split-second. Roxas stared at the impact and in that moment, he caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a dark figure watching him. He turned to see an empty space. "Great. I'm seeing things now!" He exclaimed as he rubbed his head."

"So you did it then." Pence said. "I guess it's time to move on to the next wonder then." Roxas continued to stare at the space for a moment before turning to face Pence.

"Wait, so when do I check to see if the pendant has disappeared?" Roxas asked. "Like, next week or something?"

"No way!" Pence exclaimed "We need to write up the report before we get back to school!"

"Oh." Roxas said as he scratched the back of his head.

"We'll have to check tomorrow." Pence explained. He and Roxas started walking off towards the checkpoint for their meeting with Hayner and Olette. "So what did you wish for?" Pence asked.

"I can't tell you. Otherwise it won't come true." Roxas stated.

"Oh, come on. You don't really believe that stuff do you?" Pence questioned him once more.

"We have to take this assignment seriously." Roxas said as he wagged his finger at his friend. Pence slouched in disappointment. Roxas looked up at the sky. It wasn't because of the assignment that he wouldn't spill. Whether it's all hocus pocus or not, Roxas wasn't going to mess up his chance with Olette.

"So what did you wish for us all to be together forever? Aww, how sentimental of…"

"Not even close." Roxas interrupted. "Besides, I've told you already. I'm not going to tell you even if you are right." Pence ignored this comment.

"You wished for me to have a million munny!" Pence shouted sarcastically. "Oh you shouldn't have."

"No." Roxas briefly said.

"I bet you wished for a mountain of cakes. You did, didn't you?" Pence's mouth watered as he indulged himself in this thought.

"Are you just going to ignore whatever I say and keep guessing?" Roxas asked.

"Oh yeah." Pence replied.

"For how long?" Roxas asked

"Forever!" Pence exclaimed in an ominous a voice as he could.

"No seriously." Roxas said. Now genuinely annoyed.

"Until we meet up with the other two, of course." Pence announced.

"Oh brother." Roxas said as he prepared for a bombardment of assumptions that were most likely all going to be silly and annoying. Pence smiled deviously.

"Ooh, ooh. I bet you wished that…" Their voices trailed off as they walked out of the park.

* * *

A hooded man sat on top of the rooftops, watching the two walk away. After they vanished from his sight, he turned his gaze to the fountain.

"How artistic. The contours, the patterns, the creativity. It is truly marvellous." He admired this form of art that he does not normally associate himself with. "The way it's built." He continued to stare at its beauty. "It astonishes me what artists come up with these days." He smiled. "However… To call this art… Is a joke!" He grimaced at the structure before him. He sat so that one leg was dangling on the roof and the other was brought up. He was in a sort of half foetal position. His long fringe of bright blonde hair moved out of the shadows of his hood. "Art isn't still and boring like this." He raised a hand. "Art is fleeting. Here one moment, gone the next. It lasts for a second, like a flash of light, giving you a glimpse of true beauty; leaving you yearning for more. "Art cannot last long. That way it gets boring and old. Art is always new and original; being short lived so that it cannot possibly grow old and boring like this beautiful piece of trash." He clenched his hand into a fist. "Art is a glimpse of hope, beauty and everything one would see fit to add to it. Art is a single, monumental, yet short moment of true beauty!" He turned to face his accomplice. "Wouldn't you agree?" The figure looked down at his comrade, displeased by his speech.

"I have far greater things to worry about other than your art, Deidara." He explained.

"Hey, you know were only supposed to use our code-names when were out in the opening." He smiled. "You should know that better than anyone else. Right Riptide?"

"You know that name really gets on my nerves. I just don't see the point in getting you to memorize my name just so that you can call me something else." Riptide sat down next to Deidara. "So Dei…" Deidara glared at him, reminding Riptide of the proper procedures. "Right, sorry. So, uh, Atlas. I guess you were right. He is beginning to remember. It's not going to be long you know. Before he is able to access the keyblades." Riptide stared off into the distance.

"What's wrong my man, Riptide?" Deidara asked. "You're not usually not this serious or gloomy." He waited for an answer. Riptide looked down at his hands.

"I guess it's just that the time is coming close. I wish I was more than just a trigger for his connection to the Ark, but…" His voice trailed off. "It doesn't matter." Deidara raised an eyebrow at his comrades little strop.

"Get a hold of yourself. Even if you are a nobody, as long as you're connected to the Ark, you exist more than even a normal human does." He tried to comfort his fellow member. Riptide shrugged.

"It's not that." He crossed his arms. "However this ends. If we succeed or not. It doesn't matter to me. I can almost feel Roxas. I know Archangel did too. Once he becomes connected… what happens to us?"

'Wow, way too set the mood.' Deidara thought. "I honestly don't know. I guess we'll just have to find out."

* * *

**Hey my man, it's Deidara here telling you to keep reading on. In the next chapter you'll see me make true art. I'll create a beautiful array of fleeting pieces that will literally blow your mind. Oh man the next chapter is going to be explosive!**

**ME: Deidara your not even going to be in the next chapter. Oh no, now I have no more time to write the author comments. Just hope you enjoy and R&R if you like.**


	6. Stick to the head

**Chapter 6: Stick to the head**

Hayner stood straight with his arms crossed. The wind made his clothes sway slightly and his short wavy hair swayed ever more so. His deep brown eyes stared straight ahead, not narrowing in the intense light of the sun that was shone down upon him. His camouflage trousers were dirty at the bottom yet untouched by filth at the top. Such a contrast only added to the colourfulness of his trousers and diminished the original use for the design. He had the face of a young adolescent, which made him look older than he actually was and gave him a sort of mature demeanour. This was, however, contradictory of his actual nature, which was to be loud mouthed and impatient. The calmness in his eyes and face contrasted greatly with the state of his mind. By all means, Hayner was a living contradict. He claims that this is one of his best features.

"Hey Olette! Hurry up! We haven't got all day!" Hayner shouted over his shoulder. His face was still calm, although a frown was beginning to show.

"Just… Just let me… ca-… catch my breath will you?" Olette was about 30 metres away from Hayner. She was on the path up to the cliff ledge where Hayner was standing. She was bunt over with her hands placed onto her kneecaps. She was panting heavily after a long sprint when trying to catch up to Hayner. Her long brown hair was drooped over her shoulder and some split off from the bulk as the wind gently cascaded against her. Olette stood up and looked at Hayner who was still staring off into the distance. She made her was over to him and into the circle which was guarded by a fence. She moved until she was at the centre of it.

"It sure is windy up here isn't it?" Olette put her hands on her hips and smiled at Hayner. "So what are we looking for anyway?" Hayner stayed silent. Olette cocked her head and pulled a face. "Hayner?" The blonde teen continued his silence. Olette stared at him awkwardly, not knowing what to say. 'Was it something I said?' She thought.

"Yeah it is pretty windy isn't it?" Hayner finally spoke. He leant on the fence in front of him and stared down at the ocean as it crashed against the cliff.

"Are you even listening to me?" Olette asked angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Hayner replied. By the tone of his voice, it would seem that he was frustrated by Olette's constant questioning. "We're supposed to be looking for some giant white bird or something."

"A bird?" Olette took her hands off her hips and crossed them. "I've seen loads of birds. What's so special about this one?" Hayner sighed heavily. His enthusiasm for this project had quickly diminished.

"Some guys claim they saw a large white bird. Larger than any bird we've seen."

"Oh." Olette tried to imagine what it would look like.

"That's not its most unusual feature though." Hayner looked up slightly, so that he saw the horizon. He could see far off into the distance.

"So then…" Olette began. She was growing impatient. Hayner had dragged her along very enthusiastically, which had taken a toll on her. Now he was taking forever to get started with the search for their first wonder. "What is this 'feature' that we need to look out for?" She glared at the back of his head and waited for an answer.

"Apparently… this bird doesn't have any eyes." Hayner's face was still expressionless.

"No eyes?" Olette was surprised by this claim. She had never heard of eyeless birds before.

"Yeah. A big white bird with no eyes. Apparently it's been sighted around here." Hayner didn't bother to look at her. Olette looked unimpressed.

"You know that it's probably just a stupid rumour that someone made up." Hayner decided not to reply. Olette became concerned about his unusual behaviour. "Is everything alright Hayner?" She asked. He continued to stare ahead.

"Remember when I brought Roxas into the gang?" Hayner asked. Olette was startled by this question.

"Well… Yes. Two or more years ago right. You said you found him all by himself, moping about not having a heart or something."

"Yeah that's about right." Hayner grinned a little. "I mean, who says that stuff?"

"Roxas does." Olette said, pointing out the obvious. Hayner's grin grew wider.

"Of course he does. He's Roxas. When I found him, he was preaching about being a nobody. Real sorry state."

"I don't care who says it, even Roxas himself. He's not a nobody. As long as he's got us he has people who care about him." Both were clearly oblivious to what Roxas actually meant by saying 'nobody'.

"Heh. I remember when I brought him to our spot. He was really sulking. Like he was jealous of our group. He didn't realize for a second that I was trying to invite him." Hayner sighed again. "Those were good times. When us four got together, we really had some fun didn't we." Olette became even more concerned.

"Why are you bringing all of this up?" She asked, seeking for an answer to why Hayner was acting to strangely. Hayner paused. He thought about how to express what he was going to say in the best way he could.

"When I was running up that path not long ago, I was so excited to be doing this. I did give myself… us the best wonders."

"Hayner!"

"I know, I know. It's unfair on the other two. But it's so close to the end of summer that I wanted to make the time I had left the best ever." Olette frowned at Hayner. She had expected better of him. "Anyway, when I got here all of that… enthusiasm just disappeared."

"Why?" Olette inquired. Hayner looked very distant in his expression which she could see as she tried to peak around his shoulder. She moved forward and stopped so that she was next to him. Olette leaned back on the fence and looked over Hayner. He looked like he was trying to accept something that he couldn't. Although she didn't really know what was causing him to act this way. She was still waiting for an answer.

"Because I remembered. This is where I found him." Hayner admitted. Olette was lost for words. This was obviously an important place in both Hayner's and Roxas' life. It was this place where the gang was truly finished. "He was sat exactly where I'm standing. It's so clear in my head. I can't believe I ever forgot about it."

* * *

Hayner saw someone in a dark black cloak leaning against the back fence. He had tucked his legs in and his arms were locked around them. The cloaked figure was looking down at the ground without any interest in the world around him. He was fixated on the ground. Staring at it blankly. Hayner walked up to him.

"What are ya doing?" He asked with a grin. There was no reply. The figure didn't even bother to look up. Hayner's grin faded. "Hello, anyone in there." He pulled back the hood so that he could see the figures face. It was the face of a young boy, with spiky blonde hair and big sapphire eyes. "What's your name?" Hayner asked. No reply. "Oh, of course. My name is Hayner." He scratched his head. "Sorry if I seemed a bit head on. I know how touchy people can get about manners. So…" He put his hand in front of the boy's face. "… Can I have a name?" The boy seemed startled by the hand. He looked up at Hayner who was grinning again. The boy's eyes were wide with fascination. However, they narrowed again and he stared back at the ground, ignoring Hayner's hand.

"13" He said. "I'm number 13." Hayner drew his hand back and crossed his arms.

"What kind of name is 13? Is that some sort of alias or something 'cause I ain't buyin' it." Hayner frowned. "C'mon. It can't be that hard to say your name." The boy continued to stare at the ground.

"My name? I don't have a name. Nobodies don't have names." The boy explained.

"What do you mean you don't have a name?" Hayner asked. 'First he's telling me he's a number, now he's moping about how he's a no-one and doesn't get to have a name. What an attention seeker. "Everyone has a name." No reply. "Ok, what do people call you then?"

"13"

"No. Other than that." Hayner was growing impatient. The boy lifted his head slightly.

"Someone calls me Roxas."

"See. Not that hard was it 'Roxas'." Hayner said, finally glad that he had the ordeal over and done with.

"No." Roxas replied. Hayner sat down next to him.

"So what are you doing here? Where are your friends at?" Hayner asked.

"Friends?"

"Don't tell me that you don't have any friends!" Hayner demanded. Roxas paused for a moment.

"I used to have this friend. We would sit on the ledge of the clock tower and eat sea-salt ice cream." Hayner listened carefully.

"That's a great idea. I don't know why I haven't tried that before. It does sound pretty dangerous sitting on a ledge though."

"So where are your friends at?" Roxas asked. His face was still expressionless. Hayner glanced at Roxas before staring back down the pathway.

"They're at the usual spot."

"Usual spot?" Roxas asked in a feat to find out what it was.

"Oh. It's this back alley me and my friends found. We've been meeting up there ever since." Hayner stood up. "I think they'd love to meet you." He held out his hand again. Roxas looked up at him. "So what do you say?" Roxas stared at the peculiar Hayner. He had seen the teen and his friends around town. He'd never thought that they were possible friends. However, he did admire the strength in their friendship. He could even call it jealousy. This time Roxas decided to take Hayner's hand.

* * *

Hayner's face was a little pale now. It looked as if he was sick, or in shock. However, he seemed to be absolutely fine other than his unusual attitude. The wind died down slightly and the grass became as still as a corpse. Hayner's hair still swayed slightly but his clothes were nearly untouched by wind. Olette leaned back to see his face. It was mostly expressionless except for a very tiny lift on the left side of his mouth. It looked like an unfinished grin.

"Isn't that weird though?" Hayner asked as his slight grin disappeared. Olette pulled a confused face.

"What do you mean?" She asked back.

"That I forgot. It was really important; the first time I ever met Roxas. The day I invited him into our gang…" Olette glared at him, ignoring his unusual behaviour. Trading her care for the matter in favour of making a point.

"… I mean the day we found the gang." Hayner corrected himself. His face was in a more fearful state now. Olette smiled at the correction. This unnerved Hayner. Once he had calmed down, Hayner mimicked Olette's position by leaning back against the fence. He could feel the wind hitting the back of his neck. It was very gentle, but incredibly noticeable. "Anyway, the point is that it isn't something that I ever thought I would forget." He said.

"Well it was a long time ago." Olette said. Hayner looked unconvinced of her reasoning.

"Yeah, but I can remember an exam I did almost four years ago." Hayner looked up at the sky. It was almost cloudless. "I didn't even care about the exam. It definitely showed in my results." Olette smiled for a second. She didn't mention it, but she took great pride in being the brains of the gang. She straightened her face so that it was serious.

"Well I guess you just remember some things randomly. You can't really help it unless you have some sort of memento or you keep repeating it to yourself by speech until it's memorized." Olette cocked her head and jumped back so that she was sitting on the fence. She waved her legs back and forth so that as she brought her feet back, they clashed with the fence. "As I said, you can't really help it much. It's not your fault." Hayner crossed his arms.

"When did I say that it was my fault?" He said rhetorically. Olette frowned.

"I didn't mean it like that! Don't be awkward Hayner!"

"So now you're saying I'm awkward?" Hayner pushed himself off the fence and faced her. His face was clearly showing his displeasure with her comments. Olette didn't know what to say. She just gave him puppy eyes. This was a pitiful attempt at trying to get out of a situation and she knew it. However, she tried it anyway. Whether it was out of a serious application of her 'situation evading' skills or simply because she was feeling silly, Hayner couldn't tell. "That may work on someone like Roxas, but not me." He stuck a finger up. Olette stuck her tongue out at him. She hopped on the fence and walked off. "Hey where are you going?" Hayner asked. Olette kept walking for a few seconds before she was nearly out of the circle. She turned her torso and her head so that she could see him.

"I'm not staying around here. We'll probably never find the giant bird thingy…" She made some sort of strange gesture with her hands. "… and the other two have probably already finished, so we need to get to the checkpoint." She turned back around. Olette was contemplating moving forward but something crossed her mind. She turned back around and looked at Hayner with one eye closed. "Besides, I need to check if the puppy eyes do work on Roxas." Hayner grinned.

"Well if it's gonna mess with Roxas' game then I'm all for it." Hayner returned to his usual manner. Olette began walking again and he quickly caught up with her.

"So why are you two so obsessed with beating each other at things?" Olette asked.

"It's just something me and Roxas share. Like a little competition." Hayner answered.

"Oh." Olette said. "So what's the score?"

"Score?" Hayner questioned.

"Yeah. You said that it was a competition. Who's winning?"

"We don't keep a score."

"What." Olette stopped walking. "It's not a competition if you don't have a score."

"Well then what do I call it?" Hayner asked. He was obviously impatient to beat Roxas to the checkpoint. Olette put her left index finger on her lower lip and contemplated this. Her mind went blank.

'Great, abandon me when I need you most.' "I'm sure I'll come up with something on the way." Hayner raised an eyebrow.

"Right." He said sarcastically. Hayner made his way towards the checkpoint as Olette continued to search her mind for the correct words. When she noticed that Hayner had made almost a gap of fifty metres between them, she became attentive and ran to catch up with him.

"Hey wait for me!" She shouted.

* * *

"So where are they?" Roxas asked as he tapped his left foot impatiently. The sky was now almost the exact same colour as his eyes now. His hair bounced around a tiny bit in the wind and he reached to steady his necklace, only to remember that he had thrown it into a fountain. "This is gonna take some getting used to." He mumbled. Roxas almost never left his necklace at home. Where ever he went his necklace would be around his neck, save for when he was sleeping and it was on his bedside desk.

"I have no idea." Pence stated. The two had been waiting at the checkpoint for almost ten minutes. Time was still flowing and the length of time they were made to wait was growing ever longer. Roxas walked over to the small circular wall containing a baby tree and sat on it. He leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs.

"I guess we'll just have to find a way to occupy ourselves." He said.

"Like what?" Pence asked.

"I don't suppose you want a quick struggle match, do you?" Roxas pointed at a box of struggle bats that had been left by a sidewalk. Pence sweated in fear as his memory recalled Roxas' fighting ability in the tournament.

"No no no." Pence waved his hands. "I don't think that is a good idea." Roxas relaxed his arms.

"Well what do we do then?" Roxas put his palms up so that they were flat. Pence thought for a second and held his chin in his left hand. His face suddenly livened up as he came up with an idea. Roxas put his hands together and leaned forward. Straining to know what this idea was. Pence reached into his other back pocket and produced a pack of cards. Roxas' face dropped. "Really?" Roxas asked in an effort to display his disappointment with the idea.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Roxas was about to point at the box of struggle bats but he was interrupted. "NO!" Roxas was startled by this but returned to his plain face and stared at his friend blankly.

"Fine." Roxas gestured for Pence to move towards him. A smile broke out across pence' face as he complied.

* * *

Sasuke sat on the ledge of the clock tower and stared out over Twilight town. He was disappointed with his progress on the task he had set himself. Sasuke took a bite out of his sea-salt ice cream and munched on it. His clothes were of an unusual design. He wore dark blue trousers and slightly lighter blue sandals. He had a black net vest underneath his jacket which consisted of lilac and white sections with a circular pattern on the back. He wore the headband of the leaf village. It was slightly scratched due to training and conflicts. His brown hair was spiked outwards and was very messy despite his headband keeping it in check. Sasuke's face was a little paler than usual.

"Well this sucks." He said. "I lost track of that hooded guy because I trained to hard this morning." He stuck the ice cream into his mouth. 'And I hardly made any improvements with my fighting style.' He took the ice cream out of his mouth and sighed. "Things are not looking up." He peeked around the corner of the tower. "It's definitely getting bigger. I need to find out what's going on pretty soon." He turned back around and watched a train make its way over to the station. "If I don't then I may not get a chance to ask him how to get back." He licked the ice cream, realizing that it too would soon be gone if he didn't deal with it quickly. "What did they call him? Attlee… Atlas? He came with me, so he must know what's going on." Sasuke lowered his sea-salt ice cream and let it melt. "I wonder what dad would do." He thought about it for a second. "He'd probably go all out. Use every last ounce of strength he had and more." He sighed again. "I don't think that would be appropriate for what I'm trying to achieve. What would mum do?" An image of Hinata flickered into his mind. "She'd go out of her way to help others. Even if it meant failing her own task." His eyes narrowed. "I have no intention of failing, believe it!" He shouted. He smiled an unusually large smile. It faded quickly when he realized his situation again. "Well I guess if I have nothing else to do then I should start training my body." He looked at his hand. "I don't have enough chakra left to practice my dad's jutsu." Sasuke stuck the entire ice cream into his mouth and pulled the stick out. 'I ought to thank uncle Neji for teaching me that 'better than yesterday' technique.' He flicked the stick down into the streets and hopped onto his feet.

"Ow!" Someone shouted from below him. Sasuke froze.

'My stick must have hit him!' He thought. "Sorry!" He called down to the man as he looked over the ledge. Suddenly, Sasuke caught a glimpse of his face. "No way!"

* * *

**I hope your enjoying the story so far. I've pretty much got the plot planned out now. The only issue is the details of each chapter. But I'll come up with that as I go along. Just an F.Y.I thing. Sasuke Uzumaki is the child of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga. Even though neither are brunette, Sasuke is because it is a colour that runs in the Hyuga clan****. Just to avoid any confusion (as he is not an actual Naruto character). R&R if you like and I hope you read on as the plot slowly unfolds.**


	7. To better places

**Chapter 7: To better places**

"Olette! Hayner!" Roxas shouted as he saw the two teens approaching. He stood up and waved his arms, knocking over the card set. Pence stared forward blankly. He wasn't all too impressed with Roxas' actions. The blonde walked around his shorter friend and ran towards the other two. Hayner was ahead of Olette and was slowly making his way over to Roxas. When he was within spitting distance, Hayner stopped and scratched his head. He gave Roxas a grin with his eyes closed.

"Hay Roxas, what's up…? Roxas?" When Hayner opened his eyes, he instantly realized that Roxas had run straight past him. His eyes narrowed. 'Oh, not much Hayner. How are you doing? Not bad, not bad. Thanks for asking Roxas!' Hayner imitated what the conversation would have been like in his head. Olette saw Roxas running towards her.

"Oh, hey Roxas, what's up?" Olette stopped and shot his a smile. Her face was the exact same that Hayner's was. Roxas stopped almost a metre in front of her and smiled back.

"Oh, not much Olette. How are you doing?" He asked.

"Not bad, not bad. Thanks for asking Roxas." She cocked her head and pulled off her usual beaming smile.

"Oh, come on!" Hayner shouted as he turned to face Roxas. Pence was still facing forward plainly.

'I was winning!' He thought as he turned his gaze to what used to be Roxas' hand of cards. He raised his hand and slowly stood up. Pence brought his hand down as he turned to face his friends. "I was winning Roxas! What gives?" He waited for an explanation. Unfortunately for him, Roxas was ignoring him. He was way too infatuated with Olette to notice Pence's plight. Pence and Hayner glared at their sapphire eyed friend in unison. Olette saw their expressions over Roxas' shoulder and turned him around.

"Whoa, what're you…" Roxas wondered why Olette was turning him until he found the answer in both of his male friends' expressions. "What's with the glares?" The two remained silent, continuing to glare at him. Roxas raised an eyebrow. "What?" He asked. No answer. Suddenly, Olette started to push him. "Hey, hey. What's going on?" He asked. Olette continued to push him until he was in the centre of the square. She then took a couple of steps back as Hayner moved to his other side. "Uh… Guys… Care to tell me what's going on here." Hayner grinned at him silently.

"Me and Hayner came up with an idea on the way over." Olette explained. Roxas turned to face her.

"Idea? What idea would this be?" He asked. Olette smiled.

"We decided that it's not quite right that you get to see all the action." Hayner started as Roxas did yet another 180. "Now's a good as any time to get some training in." Hayner suggested. Roxas was still clueless. Although he didn't like where this was going. "There isn't just the struggle tournament y'know. We have to do it in physical education as well. Think of it as a friendly match." Hayner's grin grew wider.

"Hayner and I are gonna fight you two on one." Olette began. Roxas was beginning to think this 180 thing was going to be his life story. "Y'know, because of your, erm… fighting prowess."

"What!?" Roxas exclaimed. "Just wait a second here. You guys decided that I was gonna be your training dummy and didn't even consider asking me about it!?" Roxas was confused and frustrated. Emotions that are often related to each other. Olette leaned forward.

"Please don't shout at me." She said almost in a whisper. Olette gave Roxas the puppy eyes and leaned in closer until it was almost obvious that his face had turned red. However, Olette took this for embarrassment rather than what the true reason behind it was. Roxas pulled his head back slowly.

"Olette… I didn't mean to…" He put his hand out.

"I KNEW YOU WOULD AGREE! Oh, Roxas. You're such a good friend!" Before Roxas could react she gave him a bear hug and swung him around comically yet violently. When she stopped, Roxas was so dizzy; he was almost at the point of collapsing.

"Was… was that… to make me unbalanced in the fight or something? It worked." Roxas stated.

"Don't be silly!" Olette exclaimed. "Oh, you." She smiled and gave him a slight push with one of her hands. With that, Roxas fell over. Hayner looked down at him. His face was directly above Roxas'.

"Not exhausted already, I hope." He laughed. "I'd hate to not get the chance to whoop your behind all the way back to kingdom come!" Roxas lifted his head, narrowly missing out on a head-butt with Hayner. After he had picked himself up from the ground. He faced Hayner.

"Let's do this!" He shouted. His face was that of pure anger. However, this was simply for intimidation. Roxas was secretly exited to beating up Hayner. One more win for his count (even though Hayner doesn't record the score. With good reason too). As Hayner made his way over to the box of struggle-bats, Pence slipped the, just cleaned up, pack of cards into his back pocket.

'Wow. It's really easy to mess with Roxas.' Pence stared at the boy, unimpressed. "Can I join in?" He asked.

"The more the merrier!" Hayner stated as he threw Pence a bat. Pence fumbled it a little but was able to stop himself from dropping it. Roxas was beginning to regret his decision. Three against one was not a friendly number. Not for him anyway. Hayner threw Olette a bat, then Roxas. He then walked over to Roxas with a bat in his own hands. Roxas' three friends surrounded him with equal space between him. Like an equilateral triangle formation. Roxas readied himself. This was unexpected. However, he was always ready for a fight.

* * *

"How interesting. So young and yet they have come to the sensible conclusion that to better themselves, they must test each other's bodies. They do harm to their friends to help them succeed in future events, knowing that it will only tighten their bond, not weaken it. This is good. We want Roxas to make his bonds tighter. If you cut something that is taught, you get better… results. However, I do believe that I would rather watch how this turns out than report back to Breeze. I'm sure he won't be displeased." The hooded figure turned to watch his accomplice. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"I don't know, Wolf Senpai! Breezy wants us to be back super soon. Tobi is always on time 'cause Tobi is a good boy!"

"Be careful what you say!" Wolf snapped. "You are always to refer to yourself as Reaver." Tobi stood upright.

"Right, Senpai! Tobi will always refer to Tobi as Reaver." Wolf nearly face-palmed.

"If you cannot master a simple codename system then I highly doubt your usefulness." Wolf looked at his accomplice. He was wearing the same hooded cloak that every member had. However, even his face was covered by an orange swirly mask. "Why did Breeze agree to let you join anyway?" Tobi raised his hands as if to make some sort of gesture. However, Wolf could make no sense from it.

"Well that's an easy question Wolfy Senpai." Wolf waited for the answer. "It's because To… Reaver is a good boy!" Wolf could feel a sweat drop coming on.

"On another matter. I believe it would also be a good idea to mimic their actions."

"Like this?" Tobi said as he stood in the exact same position as Roxas. His arms swung out to one side, pretending to hold a struggle-bat.

"No, Reaver. What I mean, is that we too, should train each other through battle. That way, we are able to help each other improve their fighting skill and we can become custom to each other's fighting style. That would benefit us greatly should we ever find ourselves… in a sticky situation." Tobi put his left index finger to his head.

"I don't get how fighting each other will help us if we get covered in honey." He announced rather stupidly.

"That's not what I meant." Wolf was beginning to really loath his partner. "Go find Atlas. He'll want to know how Roxas is doing. After all, he and Riptide are assigned to the nobody." He made the best excuse he could to get away from Tobi. "I'll report back to Breeze once this small ordeal is over." He pointed towards the triangle formation that Roxas' three friends were making. Tobi waved his arms back and forth.

"Okay. I'll go find Deidara Senpai and tell him all about Roxas' adventures!" He put his hands behind his head." "Reaver'll prove to you that I'm a worthy member!" And with that, he ran off to find his colleague. Wolf watched him go.

"Imbecile." He remarked before turning his head back around to watch Roxas fight his friends.

* * *

Roxas analysed his friends' techniques beforehand to give himself a better advantage. He looked to Pence.

'He certainly has power behind his attacks. That's not all fat under that shirt. Pence can pack a real punch. But he's also slow. He won't be able to keep up with me if I stay on my toes. He can keep a cool head, so I won't be able to mess with him to get an advantage.' Roxas nodded slightly as he moved onto his next subject. 'Olette.' He thought to himself. Suddenly, Roxas found himself thinking fond thoughts of her. He shook his head. 'Stay focused Roxas. I need to win this thing.' He frowned. 'I can't hurt Olette. No, I need to win. Just think that about how impressed she'll be when she sees you win a three on one match. This is for the best.' He convinced himself. 'Olette is really slight of body. She won't have a lot behind her attacks, but she'll certainly try.' He remembered how scary Olette can be when she wants to. She'll have flexibility and speed. She's got brains on her side too. Not sure if that applies tactically, but if it does, then she'll know her weakness is that she won't be able to do any real damage. If she works with the others, she'll use fast, weaker strikes to conserve her energy. Her job would be to constantly disorientate me so that Pence actually gets a chance to use his strength.' He made another slight nod. He faced Hayner who was grinning. 'Hayner.' Roxas suddenly realized that he had relaxed when he was thinking about Olette's techniques and changed his stance so that it was more threatening. 'Hayner is gonna be the toughest opponent to beat. I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing the exact same thing that I'm doing.' Roxas opened his eyes wider. He tried to think of how to tackle Hayner. 'Hayner is an offensive type of fighter. He goes all out with powerful swings that are accurate and pack a real punch. However, he sucks at counter-attacks and defence. If I keep the pressure on, he'll break. Plus I can mess with his head really easy. It'll leave him wide open. Well, as long as Olette doesn't start distracting me.' Roxas tried to convince himself that by 'distracting', he meant her disorienting technique. He struggled to do this. Roxas cleared his minds of any trivial thoughts and focused on the current situation. He nodded. This time it was much clearer and obvious.

"So how about we get started then." Hayner said. Roxas mimicked Hayner's grin.

"You bet!" Roxas shouted as he prepared to attack. Unfortunately for him, he was right about Hayner. The brown eyed teen had been analysing Roxas' technique. He certainly had time to do some 'research' on the matter when Roxas was fighting in the tournament. Hayner swung left; narrowly missing Roxas cheek as the blonde moved backwards and straight into Olette's attack. With one giant swipe, she knocked him flying. When Roxas hit the ground, he manoeuvred his body so that he would instantly roll onto his feet. Looking at the two now, he knew that he'd made a mistake. 'Hayner was the one disorientating me that time. I wouldn't have guessed.' He looked over to Olette. 'I didn't realize she could pack such a punch. She might even be stronger than me!" He rubbed his cheek as blood rushed to it. His eye was almost watering.

"Sorry, Roxas. I didn't mean to hit that hard!" Olette waved at him.

'Didn't mean to hit hard?' Roxas thought to himself. 'Was that her strength when she holds back!?' Roxas dreaded to think of what her true strength is like. Suddenly, he noticed a shadow enveloping his own. He turned the bat around so that was backhanded and swung it back just in time to block Pence's attack. 'Since when was Pence this good at sneaking?' Roxas couldn't believe that it had taken him so long to hatch on to Pence's attack. He twisted the bat back around anti-clockwise so that it swiped in the direction of Pence. The shorter boy stepped back to avoid this. Roxas then twisted his entire body and swung at Pence. His bat connected with the teen's face. Pence staggered back and took a defensive stance. His cheek turned blood red. 'At least I was right about one guy.' Roxas thought to himself. Roxas did a 180 turn and swung as he did so, making sure that anyone trying another sneak attack would get a nasty surprise themselves. However, Roxas himself was surprised. Surprised by the fact that neither Hayner nor Olette had moved from their previous spots. They were just standing there.

"Ow!" Pence exclaimed, annoyed by Roxas' successful attack. "Did you have to hit that hard!?" Pence relaxed his stance so that he could rub his cheek.

"Don't be a baby." Hayner said as he slowly made his way over to Roxas. He was walking in an unusually relaxed manner for a battle. Roxas took one step back and readied himself, taking care not to get too close to Pence. Hayner stopped a full metre from Roxas. He brought his bat up until it was pointing directly at Roxas' face. Roxas was about to bat it away when he saw something move. It was Olette. She jumped over Hayner and he took a step back so that he wouldn't get in the way of her. She swung down with full force. Roxas barely had time to block. He wasn't prepared for the attack and his arms failed to hold. He tried to pull out of the lock but failed. Olette's swing hit his chest dead centre, knocking him over. Olette fell on top of him and brought her arms up, pointing her struggle-bat at his chest. Roxas would have blushed a little, however, under the circumstances; his face was already red with pain. He dropped his bat and swiped Olette's away with his right hand, grabbing hold of it so that he could use it as his own. He picked up his original bat with his other hand and made like he was going to swing at her stomach. She backed off immediately. As she did so, Hayner threw her the last bat from the box.

'I get it. Hayner blocked my sight using his bat. That gave Olette the chance to get behind him and do a leap attack without me noticing.' Roxas rolled forward and stayed with one leg down, turning his body so that he could block Pence's attack. He did so with a cross of the two bats. He slashed them both forward, making Pence lose grip on his. Roxas then swung his leg around and pushed himself up, slashing diagonally down with his right bat. Pence stumbled and had no time to react before Roxas lunged with his other bat. Pence took a few steps back then fell onto his behind. He grabbed his stomach area.

"Ow!" He exclaimed. Roxas looked at him. Pence was obviously not much of a fighter. He brought his bats to his hips and pointed them diagonally towards the ground.

'One down.' Roxas thought to himself. Two figures appeared behind him. Roxas turned to block their attacks. Hayner hit from the right and Olette from the left. Roxas crossed his arms in front of his face and turned his bats down to block both attacks. He then lashed outwards with both struggle-bats, causing the two to back off.

"You're pretty skilled with duel bats." Hayner complimented him. Roxas brought his right bat up to his chest and turned it horizontally. He looked it over.

"Yeah. I'm liking it." He said.

"You should pay attention!" Hayner shouted as he charged at Roxas. The Sapphire eyed boy blocked the attack with ease.

"And you shouldn't give your opponents advice or heads up." Roxas grinned. Olette swung at him but her attack was blocked and held with Roxas' left bat. He swung his right bat down, causing Hayner to do the same. He then swung it upwards, smashing it into Hayner's chin. Hayner staggered backwards and fell over. Roxas smiled. He had beaten his rival yet again. He suddenly took notice of his last opponent as she pushed forward with both hands. Roxas couldn't hold her with a single bat. He turned to face her just as his left arm failed to hold. She burst through his defence and prepared to slam into him. Roxas was about to ready himself, however, he found himself unable as the only female in their gang threw her bat upwards. It hit his face, disorientating him. He swung both his bats outwards in a feat to protect himself. This only left him more open, however.

Olette curled her right hand into a fist and slammed it into his stomach. Driving it forward and eventually, pushing Roxas to the ground with great force. He dropped his bats and they rolled away, as if they were abandoning their defeated master. Roxas lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. It was still its usual, azure self. The wind caressed the clouds, forcing them to move gently across the sky. The wind attempted to do the same to Roxas. Unfortunately, he was too busy trying to ignore the pain to move. The sun bathed him in warm light and he took comfort in it. It was the best he could get out of such a moment. A shadow moved in the way of the light, making Roxas grumpy. His annoyance quickly disappeared when he realized it was Olette's head that was in the way. The sunlight formed a sort of halo around her head. "Am I in heaven?" He asked. Still a little dazed by the last attack. Olette smiled.

"Don't be silly Roxas." She said as she reached out a hand. He grabbed it and she pulled him up. As Roxas leaned forward, he felt a sharp pain where he had been hit. He rubbed his belly and pulled a worried face.

"Beaten by a girl." Hayner remarked. Roxas looked at him. Hayner was standing over him with a massive grin on his face.

"Yeah well, the guy who got 'beaten by a girl' just beat you." Roxas said. Hayner's grin quickly faded. Roxas stood up and brushed himself down. He then picked up his bats and threw them at the box. They missed. Suddenly, he was hit in the head by a thrown struggle-bat yet again. He caught it as it fell and looked at the direction that it came from. Hayner's grin had returned.

"Loser puts away the bats." He explained. Roxas grumbled as his two other friends handed him their bats.

* * *

After the bats had been put away and the four had sorted themselves out, they returned to the topic of the assignment.

"We didn't find anything. So that sucks pretty bad." Hayner sat where Roxas was sitting when he was playing cards. His hands were holding his face up and he was clearly bored. "What about you guys?" Just as Roxas was about to reply, Pence interrupted.

"Roxas put something into the fountain. We're going to check it over tomorrow."

"Oh, really. What did he put in?" Hayner took his head out of his hands. He looked Roxas over. He didn't notice it at first, but before Pence could answer, Hayner realized. "Your necklace." He looked up at Roxas. "You never go anywhere without it." Roxas sighed.

"Well, I had to put something important in. That was the only thing other than the trophy orbs. I can't put them in now can I?" He smiled. "They're a symbol of our friendship." He looked Hayner in the eyes. "Plus they prove how much stronger I am than you." Hayner frowned.

"I think it's about time we got to the next wonder." He said spitefully. Hayner pulled his map out and showed the other three. He pointed to where he and Olette were going next.

"Just so you know Roxas. Olette and I are going to the more exiting wonder. Have fun researching your boring one." He grinned.

"So that's where you're going is it?" Roxas asked. He didn't seem to react to Hayner's attempt to annoy him.

"Well, yeah." Hayner said. He looked Roxas over. 'What's he up to.' Hayner noticed that Roxas was acting a little odd.

"Okay then." Roxas said. "See you later." He grabbed Olette's arm and ran as fast as he could.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Olette exclaimed. Roxas smiled.

"Just trust me, okay."

"Where are you going!?" Hayner shouted as he stood up. Roxas craned his neck as he continued to run.

"To the 'more exiting wonder'!" He laughed. Hayner balled his fists and growled at his part rival-part friend.

"HEY!" Pence shouted at the top of his lungs. "What's wrong with having me as your partner, huh!?"

* * *

**So yeah... That happened. I know I said I was moving away from the fights for this section of chapters, but I couldn't resist. Hope you enjoyed and continue to. R&R if you like.**

**On another note. I would recommend listening to anime/kingdom hearts music when reading. It really does set the scene. Just a thought.**


	8. Despair the tear

**Chapter 8: Despair the tear**

It was a cool summer's day. The wind gently pushed against all that existed near it and commanded the weaker things, such as clouds and water, to move with it. A ledge was facing the old castle at the center of a cavernous region in hollow bastion. On the ledge stood a man clad in black. The only change in colour was that of his skin eyes shoulder guards and hair. However, even then, he still seemed rather bland. The air was cool, and around the man it was cooler, even freezing. Perhaps it was cold on the ledge, or maybe the very thought of getting close to such a man was a thought that seemed to freeze even the bravest. The man's very essence radiated a cold, unforgiving feeling. However, he seemed distracted, or displeased. Either way, the silver haired man simply frowned a slight frown as he stared off into the distance blankly. He didn't even bother to look back as he spoke.

"What do you want?" He asked calmly. His voice was serene, yet cold, like the atmosphere his very image set. Deidara jumped down from the rocks and looked at the man. He was told that he possessed something that they needed, but he would most likely not give it up. Now that he thought about it, Deidara regretted coming alone. If things turn out badly, this man would be the last person that he would ever consider going up against.

'Damn you, Riptide. Ditching me for that Archangel!' Deidara frowned. 'You two are way too alike to work together.' "I wanted to make you a proposition." Deidara explained. He waved his arms outwards. Deidara's head was still covered by the hood, but he was sure that the man's perception would get the better of him.

"Proposition?" The man asked, still staring off into the distance. Deidara cleared his throat.

"Yes. My colleagues have taken an interest in you. Apparently, you are a great swordsman." The man stayed silent. "I'd like to ask you to give us your… services."

"You want me to join your little group?" The man asked. He turned his head slightly so that he could see Deidara out of one eye. The blonde man was wearing a black organization XIII cloak with the hood up. The cloak was different from the usual type. It had red clouds with white outlines dotted around it. 'What a fool.' He thought to himself.

"Exactly!" Deidara exclaimed. "I'm sure that…"

"Not interested." The man interrupted. Deidara was left with his mouth gaped. "Was there something else?" The man asked as he turned his head back to the castle. Deidara stood up as straight as he could.

"I'm sure we can make it worth your while." Deidara was struggling to convince this man to join. His persuasive skills weren't exactly legendary, and if it was true what the others said. Sephiroth had the angel wing. 'Was that why we need him. Some dumb wing.' Sephiroth turned his hand slightly, revealing his blade. Deidara was shocked. He hadn't noticed it before as the blade was extremely thin; near impossible to notice facing directly towards or away from someone. It was incredibly long in length. He was sure that it was incredibly useful for killing too. Deidara gulped.

"If you want my services…." Sephiroth began. Deidara listened carefully, yearning to know how to get this ordeal over with. "… Then find me some black materia." Deidara slumped.

'Damn. We can't give him that. We need it ourselves.' "I'm afraid we can't. I'm sure there's something else…"

"Then we have nothing more to talk about." Sephiroth interrupted once more. Deidara sighed.

'This is gonna be tougher than I thought.' He patted his satchels. 'Makes me wish that I'd brought some more clay.' He grimaced. "Perhaps I should explain our goals. You might sympathise…"

"I said, not interested." Sephiroth was beginning to get frustrated with this annoying man. "I already know where you're from." He said. Deidara froze. How could this man possibly know? "You're not from this world. Nor this plane of existence. I know all about you're ark." He looked up at the sky. It was beautiful. A great plane of blue swept across the heavens, near cloudless. However, there was a taint. A purple blur that was ever growing in the sky. It was a curse. Not because of how it looked, but for what it meant. "You are connected to the ark aren't you?" Sephiroth asked. Deidara relaxed himself and prepared to fight. Sephiroth was most likely not going to give in to persuasion.

"Yes. I am. It's been a rather explosive experience." Deidara said as he grinned. Sephiroth continued to stare at the purple smear in the ocean of blue.

"So you will be able to control the tear." Sephiroth stated.

'How does he know so much?' Deidara thought to himself. 'Even I didn't know about the tear until recently.'

"In that case, there is something I could offer you other than my services." Sephiroth's face was plain. It was as if he was derived of all emotion. Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. What would that be?" He asked. Sephiroth's eyes were so sincere. As he looked at the sky, his eyes glinted in the sunlight. The pupils were like that of a cat's. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk's and were among all parts of his appearance, the most colourful. The faint green that his irises hued contrasted greatly with the rest of his body. They became ever more noticeable as he turned his head to see Deidara once more. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his sword hand.

"Despair."

* * *

Roxas continued to drag Olette through the streets, refusing to let go of her arm. A big grin was stretched across his face and a big frown across Olette's. The boy was gaining to large speeds. It was starting to make Olette feel a little sick. Also, people were beginning to stare.

"Why the hell did you grab me?" Olette asked. Roxas looked back at her.

"Oh, come on. You don't wanna hang out with Hayner all day do you? I think it's better if we swap partners." He ran faster. This was starting to make Olette very dizzy.

'So this is what it feels like to be in a centrifuge.' She compared the two experiences. 'No, this is worse.' She thought. Olette grounded her feet and pulled back. Her face was that of pure anger. "Stop running!" She demanded as she yanked Roxas off his feet. The blonde haired boy fell to the ground and tumbled out of control as he lost grip of Olette's arm. It wasn't until he hit a brick wall that he stopped.

"Ow! What was that for?" He asked. Olette frowned.

"That was for nearly pulling my arm off!" Her voice boomed as if she was speaking into a microphone connected to a skyscraper sized amplifier. Roxas stared at her blankly.

"Sorry." He said. Roxas couldn't even hear what he said as his ears were still ringing from Olette's shouting and his head was still spinning from the crash into the wall.

"Oh, that's okay!" Olette smiled. Roxas sweat dropped.

'She's always like this. Half the time I can't tell if she would rather kiss me with her lips or her fist.' Roxas admired his play on words. His mind then wandered off to other things.

"Are you gonna get up?" Olette asked. Roxas snapped out of his day-dreaming session and stood up.

"Right. We've gotta beat Hayner!" He exclaimed as he balled his hands into fists. Olette shrugged.

"I don't get you guys. One minute you're best friends, the next your bitter rivals."

"You can talk. You've got problems with multiple personalities." He accidentally said out loud.

"What'd you say!?" Olette balled her right hand into a fist and raised it in anger. Her eyes were lit like hot flames.

"N-nothing. I didn't say anything, I swear." Roxas waved his hands in fear. Olette lowered her fist.

"Well if you say so then." Her face turned blank. "We should get onto the next wonder then." She began walking towards her destination and Roxas followed. As they walked, Roxas couldn't help but to glance at Olette. He admired how attractive she was. At least to him. He was constantly annoyed with her. Yet he enjoyed it. He enjoyed being with her. He enjoyed her company, her looks and her attitude, whether negative or positive. Roxas smiled. Trading partners was the best decision he'd made all day. As they approached the location of the wonder, Roxas began do such a thing. He wondered, what it would be like if everything changed. If everything was already different and if everything was perfect. He tried to make a perfect world in his head. One that didn't involve Olette. But it was way too hard. Perhaps even impossible. Roxas knew he had a 'thing' for her. But he didn't know how to put it. Even to himself. Roxas suddenly came to his senses as he bumped into the girl in question. She had stopped for some reason. Roxas looked past her and saw a gaping hole in the middle of a large wall. Past the hole was a forest of trees, blocking all view of whatever was behind it. Roxas didn't need to see what was behind the trees. He already knew.

"So we're going to the mansion then." Roxas said as he stood next to his friend. "Didn't Setzer move in there?" Olette smiled.

"He did, but that's not where we're going." She looked at Roxas. He was confused.

"Then what are we doing here?" He asked. Olette grinned and stuck her left index finger up. "They say that there is a ghost in this forest." Her eyes sparkled evilly. Roxas shivered.

"A… g-ghost." He leaned back. Olette's grin grew wider.

"Oh, come on Roxas." Her expression was that of true evil. "You're not scared are you!?"

"No, no, no. I'm not scared!" Roxas shouted as he waved his arms in pure fear (not of the forest, but of Olette). He then crossed his arms and looked away from her. "As if I'd be scared of some ghost. It's probably just a rumour anyway." He opened the eye on the side of his head that faced Olette and looked at her.

"Oh, that's good." She smiled. Then she glared at him. "Because they say that the ghost only takes the ones who are scared!" Roxas gulped. "Okay, let's go." Olette announced as she wondered into the forest.

"Hey, wait for me!" Roxas shouted as he stepped through the hole. Suddenly, he found himself planted in the ground. He'd been to this forest several times. But this time felt different. He was suddenly aware of how horrific the trees looked. How dark the crevices were and how many places were perfect to kill someone silently and without trouble. As these thoughts crossed Roxas' mind, he felt faint. He looked around for Olette. She was nowhere to be seen. "Olette! Where are you!?" Roxas called out to her. He slowly moved forward and checked behind the trees. Once he was in the centre, between the mansion and the wall, he froze again. It was unusually dark in the forest. "Olette! Olette!" He shouted. 'Where is she?' Roxas clenched his teeth. Did her talk of ghosts really get to him this much? Roxas had never believed in ghosts, phantoms or ghouls. But he found himself being awfully cautious of the shadows. All of a sudden, a face appeared upside down in front of his face and shrieked.

* * *

"Hey." A faint voice called out. "Hey, Roxas." The voice was very familiar. Very feminine. Roxas opened his eyes just enough to see. A blurred image of a face appeared as he did so. His eyes opened wider. It was Olette. "Wow, Roxas. You're really easy to scare." She smiled. Roxas grumbled.

"What happened?" He asked. Olette stood up straight.

"Well." She began. "I hid in the tree your leaning on now." She pointed at it. "When you came looking for me, I held onto the tree branch using my legs and swung my body down to scare you. You fainted." She explained. Olette finished going through her chibi style slide show of the explanation and threw the paper into the air. "As I said, you were really easy to scare." She stretched an arm down to Roxas and he took it. As he got up, Roxas noticed that his limbs were stiff.

"How long was I out?" He asked as he brushed himself down.

"Nearly ten minutes." Olette said. Roxas froze again.

"Ten minutes!?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah." Olette smiled and cocked her head as she always does. "I had lots of time to look around. There's no sign of a ghost. It's quite disappointing actual…" Roxas grabbed her arm.

"We've gotta get to the next checkpoint. I can't let Hayner beat me!"

"Wait, don't rush off yet. I'm not readyyyyyyyyyyy!" Her voice trailed off into the distance as Roxas sped to the checkpoint with Olette flying like a kite behind him.

* * *

Wolf still sat on the rooftop where he had viewed the battle. The air was cool and the wind had almost settled. The sky was still the azure blue that it normally was. Except of course for the purple smudge that stained it. Wolf looked down at the streets below him. They were empty and it was unusually quiet.

"What a disappointing outcome." He said to himself. After all the nurturing we gave him, Roxas is still not strong enough." He stood up and looked at his hand. It was covered in a black leather glove. It made a sound as he clenched it into a fist. The sound could be heard clearly due to the quiet atmosphere in the area. "Still." He started. "I suppose I couldn't expect much more from a nobody." He turned and ducked in order to avoid the kick that was directed at him. Wolf then rolled to the side and walked onto the top of the rooftop. "Sasuke. I hadn't expected you so soon."

"How do you know my name!?" Sasuke demanded an answer. Wolf's face was plain, although Sasuke couldn't see it.

"I'm afraid that I can't tell you that." Sasuke clenched his teeth and glared at wolf.

"How many of us have come here!?" He asked in a clear, loud voice. Wolf stared at the boy.

"I see you've met others from your side of the veil then." Wolf lifted his head slightly and one of his eyes could be clearly seen. "I thought Deidara would have kept that crucible in check." His mind wandered.

'Deidara. That's who I've been looking for.' Sasuke relaxed his stance. "The crucible, what is it?" Sasuke waited for an answer. Wolf simply stared at him.

"I think it's time that I made my exit." A black portal opened up behind Wolf and he backed into it.

"Hey, wait!" Sasuke shouted as he followed wolf in. As the portal closed, a dark haired man jumped onto the rooftop. His eyes were large. Ridiculously large. Not as ridiculous as his clothing or his hair cut though. He clenched one hand into a fist.

"It would seem that I am too late." He said. "I promised Sasuke that I would have his back and I meant it!" His voice was very formal, yet his attitude was that of a young adult. Rock Lee thought back to when the ice cream stick had landed on his head. That was when he found out that Sasuke had come to this world too. "I must find out what they are up too." He punched his palm.

* * *

Hayner mumbled to himself as he and Pence made their way back from the wonder.

"Stupid Roxas, stealing all the friggin' fun." Hayner said under his breath.

"What's that you say?" Pence asked.

"Nothing, nothing. I was just disappointed with the last wonder is all." Hayner frowned. Pence bought it.

"Yeah, I can't believe the speculation on that thing." He said as he put his hands behind his head. "What a let-down. I can't believe that it turned out to be…" Pence stopped talking and walking. Hayner stopped in turn.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he straightened himself. He looked in the direction of Pence's vision and saw two particular teenagers walking towards the next checkpoint.

"Hey look, Hayner." Pence pointed at them. "It's…" Before he could finish his sentence, Hayner took his hand and shoved pence's head down with it, clambering over him.

"ROXAS!" He shouted. Roxas turned.

"Did someone say my name?" He asked Olette. He saw Hayner charging at him with ungodly speed. Suddenly, a cold sweat covered his body. "Oh crap." Hayner readied himself. He skidded on the ground as he stopped running and brought his right arm back with his hand clenched in a fist.

"Hyyyoouaagh" He shouted as his fist flew forward. Roxas put his arms in front of his face to defend himself. He waited for the attack. It never came. Roxas lowered his arms to see that Hayner had stopped the attack before it had hit his face. Hayner's body and head were lowered.

"Hayner?" Roxas asked awkwardly. Hayner stood up straight and looked at Roxas with his fist still in the way. He then grinned. Roxas returned it.

*Thwack*

"Ow!" Roxas said as he rubbed his head. Hayner had flicked him.

"Let that be a lesson to you for the next time you try to pull a stunt like that." His grin was stapled across his face like a painting. It was as if he could not go a day without putting it on. "Now how about we get to that last wonder." He said.

"But we're not even at the checkpoint yet!" Pence proclaimed. Hayner smirked and rubbed his nose quickly.

"Yeah, but the main point of the checkpoints was for us to meet up. Of we've already met up then there isn't any point in going to a checkpoint." He spread his arms out.

*Thwack*

"Ow!" Hayner rubbed the back of his head. Roxas had flicked him.

"Let that be a lesson to you for every time you try to give yourself all of the benefits!" He grinned. Hayner glared at him and Roxas returned it. They clashed foreheads and lightning formed between their eyes.

"Now, now." Olette waved her hands up and down. "Don't fight, you two. There's no need." Pence put his hands behind his head again.

"I can't believe you two. You're so alike." He smiled. Hayner and Roxas retracted their heads, faced away from each other and crossed their arms.

"We're nothing alike!" The two shouted in unison. They suddenly noticed and clashed heads again. Olette laughed.

"You two make me laugh!" She put a hand up to her mouth to stop herself from laughing any harder. The two boys faced her, their heads literally millimetres from each other.

"There's nothing funny about it!" They both shouted, sending shivers down her spine.

* * *

"So what are we doing here?" Roxas asked. Hayner grinned.

"We've gotta look for the sunset." He explained.

"Oh, I see." Roxas said as he looked up at the clock tower.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Olette asked.

"Sea-salt ice cream?" Pence questioned back. Olette nodded.

* * *

After getting the ice cream, the four friends walked up the train station stairs and up to the clock tower where they sat on its ledge.

"So what's so special about the sunset?" Roxas asked. Hayner leaned back and prepared to explain. Olette got there first however.

"It's said that exactly when the orange swallows up the blue in the sky, you can see a small star shoot across the sky." She said. Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"What's so special about a shooting star?" He asked.

"The rumour is that the shooting star isn't actually a star." Hayner said as he looked up at the sky. He was smiling slightly. "It's a person coming into this world." Roxas nodded.

"Oh, right. I get it. There's one small thing though." Roxas looked at Hayner and he looked back.

"Oh. What's that?" He asked.

"How the hell are we supposed to check if it's true or not!?" Roxas shouted. Hayner was startled and nearly dropped his ice cream. He scratched his chin.

"I don't know." The other three slumped over. Hayner grinned. "Who cares? Let's just look for a comet or something and write down what we see." He said. The three others just shrugged and agreed. So the four sat there, eating their sea-salt ice cream and talking about the day's events. Sharing their opinions and sharing their laughs. They talked into the night, becoming so occupied with their friendship that they even forgot to look for the shooting star. As they did talked and laughed, the shooting star did come, and the purple tear in the azure sky grew wider.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've just recently decided to add more cameos from Naruto (and perhaps a couple from other anime's too). R&R please (I do read the reviews. I like to get feedback). If your confused with the plot at the moment, don't worry. I'm itching to unfold it but you and I will just have to wait a little longer before things really kick off.**


	9. Day of the grumpy

**Chapter 9: Day of the grumpy**

Deidara sat on the rocks, far from his previous position. Looking over the castle where a member of an organization once controlled heartless, he remembered the days when he was with the original Akatsuki. It wasn't the best of times, but it sure was fun. A time when he got to create lots of 'art'.

"Gah!" He felt a surge of pain run through his body. Holding the wound tightly, he slowly sat down and crossed his legs. Deidara looked down at the ground and grimaced. How could he have been defeated so easily? "Why on earth did I not bring extra clay?" He patted his satchels. They were empty. "All this trouble, just to get one guy. I don't see the point." He suddenly stopped becoming lost in his thoughts and stared harder at the ground. He could see someone's feet. He looked up to see the familiar orange, swirly mask that he loathed.

"Hey, Deidara! Deidara Senpai!" Tobi waved his arms. Deidara frowned deeply.

"You don't have to shout so loud. I'm right in front of you." Deidara remarked. Tobi put his hands on his hips and stood up straight.

"I know, Senpai. I just wanted to get you attention. I think I did pretty good!" Tobi waved his arms around once more. His colleague however was much less excited to see his old acquaintance.

"Hey, listen." Deidara said quietly. Tobi stopped waving and listened close.

"What is it Senpai?" Deidara looked him in the face.

"You're not supposed to use my name, idiot!" Deidara quickly stood up and balled his hands into fists. Tobi covered his ears.

"Ow, that hurts. You didn't have to shout that loud!"

"Well now you know how I feel!" Deidara would have shouted some more. However, his wound started to bleed again. Deidara quickly grabbed it and applied pressure. "Crap!"

"What happened to your waist?" Tobi asked. Deidara sat down again and looked up at Tobi, still holding his wound with his right hand.

"I got contracted to this guy. What was his name? Several? Sethiroph? I don't know."

"You mean Sephiroth?" Tobi interrupted. Deidara glared at him in an attempt to show his displeasure of being corrected. Tobi didn't take notice.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I fought him and I lost. That's all there is too it." Deidara looked up at the sky. "I was so looking forward to making some art too." He smiled.

"Uh. Antlers?" Tobi began.

"It's Atlas." Deidara reminded him.

"Right." Tobi said. He pointed towards the edge of the cliff. "How much blood have you lost?"

"Huh?" Deidara looked to his left and saw a large trail of blood. He froze. "Did I really lose that much." Tobi nodded. "That was rhetorical." Deidara frowned. Suddenly, something popped into his head. "Oh, right. Why did you come looking for me anyway?" He looked back at Tobi who was thinking harder than usual.

"Hmmmm…" Tobi crossed his arms. Deidara listened closely. "I… can't remember."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Deidara shouted. He got up and started kicking Tobi, who tried to back off. Deidara then tried to hit him, but as he took his hand away from his wound, it started to bleed again. "Gah!" He grabbed it again and fell to his knees.

"Ooh, I remember now. It's about Roxas." Tobi stuck his index finger up.

"Oh." Deidara's face became plain. He was much calmer now. All that mattered was that he collected as much information about Roxas as possible. "So what is it then?" He asked. Tobi crossed his arms and cocked his head.

"I… forgot."

"Oh, come on!"

* * *

Roxas moved his hand to open the hanging sheet that guarded the usual place. He stepped in to be met with an angry glare. It was Hayner's glare.

"Late as usual." Hayner smirked. "Sit down Roxas." He pointed at the right side of the couch. Roxas did as told. He looked to his right. Olette was sitting next to him on the couch, as usual. However, there was a certain… glow about her. She seemed happier and giddier than usual. This was obvious as the waved her feet back and forth and her head sideways. Roxas knew why; as did the other two. "So, today we have something very important to think about." Hayner paced back and forth. "Today is the celebration of one of our valued member's birth." He gestured his hand in the direction of Olette. Roxas raised an eyebrow. Hayner was being awfully formal. Olette squealed with joy. "So now, we have to present our offerings to said member."

'This is her birthday, not a sacrifice ritual.' Roxas mocked Hayner in his mind.

"Oh, you shouldn't have." Olette waved her hand. 'Presents! All mine!' She thought to herself in a contradictory manner. She let out a quiet, evil laugh which freaked Roxas out a little. Hayner grinned and bent over to look at Olette eye to eye.

"The first gift will be from me." He stood up straight. Olette stood up in turn and clapped her hands. "But…" He waved his index finger. "You'll have to guess what it is!" His grin grew wider as Olette's faded. "What could it be? Is it jewellery? Could it be some awesome new sneakers?" He pointed to his shoes. As Hayner went on to list the possibilities, he made odd looking gestures with his arms. These simply made everything much more confusing. "Or…" He leaned in closer to Olette in order to put her on edge. "Could it be a kiss from the most awesome and handsome man in town?" He grabbed Olette's chin and tugged it up slightly. His face was inches from hers now. Hayner was obviously doing this just to freak her out. It was working. Pence face palmed and Roxas nearly stood up in anger as Hayner smiled deeply and looked into Olette's eyes in an unnerving manner. He grinned and prepared to talk. However, a massive amount of pain ran throughout his body and his face turned blank. He looked at Olette, who was staring back at him blankly. Hayner then looked down to see one of her fists imbedded in his stomach area. He gasped in pain. She then repeatedly started attacking him with unimaginable speed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" She asked as she beat him repeatedly. Hayner was in too much pain to even bother listening to this question. He simply flailed his arms and twisted about in a hopeless feat to avoid her attacks.

"Stop it, stop it! I don't deserve this!" He shouted. Pence closed the distance between him and Pence so that he could sit on the couch. He then produced a bag of popcorn and the two began eating from it as they watched Hayner get the crap beaten out of him by a girl.

"I guess this is what happens if you annoy Olette on her birthday, huh?" Pence commented casually as he passed the popcorn.

"Yuh, I guss so" Roxas tried to talk, but failed as his mouth was full of popcorn. Olette stopped hitting Hayner and he shivered on the floor, flooding with tears.

"What did I ever do to deserve this!?" He asked. Olette remained silent and took the present out of his back pocket. Hayner shuffled over to the far corner and grovelled there in his own self-pity. Olette looked at the box. It was fairly small. She took the ribbon off and then the lid in succession.

"Wow, thanks Hayner. You're a real friend." She said as she lifted up a pretty looking bracelet. She walked back towards the couch to see Pence sitting there. "Oh, is this your space now?" She asked calmly.

"No, no. I was just keeping it warm for you is all!" Pence launched himself off the couch and scrambled back to his own spot. Olette looked at him and raised an eyebrow. She then looked at Roxas.

"What's gotten in to him all of a sudden?" She asked him. Roxas leaned to the left so that he could see past her. A dark, depressing aura was forming around Hayner as he sat in the corner, shivering in fear.

'Should I tell her?' Roxas asked himself. He though back to what caused this. 'No.' "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." He waved his hand up and down. Olette stared at him.

"Oh, okay." She sat down and grinned. "So what's my next present?" Her eyes were closed and her head was angled towards the ceiling. It was obvious that she wasn't talking to anyone specific. Neither Roxas nor Pence wanted to mess with her. They couldn't risk saying anything as it might provoke 'violent behaviour'. Even though Olette didn't open her eyes, as she turned her head towards Pence's general direction, he immediately caved in.

"Here it is!" He shouted as he lifted up his gift so that it was in front of Olette's face. She opened her eyes and stared at the box. She then calmly took it out of Pence's hands and untied the ribbon. She smiled as the lid came off with it and took out the slightly heavy object that was inside. She looked at it, confused.

"What is it?" She asked. Pence took a step backwards in fear.

"It is… It's… a music box which plays your favourite song." He said, hoping that it pleased her enough to not beat her up. Roxas looked at Pence's face.

'He's being ridiculous.' He thought to himself. 'Olette only got angry with Hayner because he was really trying to tick her off.' He crossed his arms. 'We have nothing to worry about.'

"Wow, cool." Olette said as she placed the music box on her lap. Pence relaxed and sat back down at his spot as he tried to calm himself down. Olette twisted a small handle that she found at the back and listened. It played a nice, soothing melody which sounded like it would go well played by any instrument. Olette hummed as she listened to the song. Soon after, she turned to face Roxas. A chill ran down his spine. He was paralysed in a state of fear.

'Wait, this is silly.' He thought as she grinned at him. 'It's Olette. I've got nothing to be scared of!' He tried to convince himself.

"So… Roxas." Olette began. Roxas began shivering in terror. "What did you get me?" Roxas calmed himself.

"Well that was pretty straightforward." He accidentally said out loud.

"What?" Olette asked as she cocked her head. Roxas panicked as he realised what he had done.

"I mean… Here it is!" He presented a small, rectangle box with an orange ribbon covering it. Olette placed the box down next to her and took Roxas' gift. After untying the ribbon, she took the lid off and stared at the box's contents.

"Whoa…" She said as she lifted a beautiful looking necklace out of the box. Pence looked it over from where he was sitting. It glinted in the light cast by the light bulb.

"How much did that cost to get?" Pence asked.

"Pence!" Olette snapped at him.

"Um…" Roxas scratched the back of his head. "About, 14, no, 15,000 munny." He looked blankly at Pence and Olette, who were both gaping their mouths. "What?" He asked, confused as to why they were looking at him like that.

"That's a lot of money for a school kid." Pence announced. Roxas scratched his head again.

"It isn't that hard to get money if you work for it." Roxas explained. Suddenly Olette shoved the necklace towards his face. "Huh?"

"I can't accept this, Roxas." Olette said. "You've gone way overboard!"

"No, no. I want you to have it." Roxas pushed her hands back. After all, if you didn't accept it then I've clearly wasted all those hours working to be able to afford it." He explained further. Olette frowned, and then smiled.

"Okay." She said as she put it around her neck.

'That didn't take much convincing.' Roxas thought to himself. 'Wow, I'm doing a lot of negative thinking today, aren't I.' He sighed.

"RIGHT!" Hayner stood up triumphantly, shocking everyone else. He turned around so that the others could see him and grinned. "So that's the presents over with. Now it's time to focus on activities we will divulge ourselves in for today!"

'Why is he being so formal?' Roxas thought to himself.

"Anyway. Because of yesterday's events, I was thinking of checking up on Roxas' pen…" Hayner collapsed on the floor after being punched in the gut by Olette. "Gah!"

"It's my birthday, we do what I want!"

'She's being a lot more commanding than usual!' Pence and Roxas thought in unison.

"Oh, hey. I have an Idea!" Olette stated as she turned to face the two boys. "Why don't we go and check up on Roxas' pendant!"

"Yeah that's a great idea!" Pence and Roxas said in unison. Hayner was almost crying again.

* * *

After a long walk, the four friends reached the fountain.

"Oh, so this is the wonder you went to." Olette marvelled at the structure on top of the fountain. "It looks weird, yet strangely relaxing." Her facial expression changed. "Wait a second!" She turned to face Hayner, who was still dragging his heels across the ground in frustration. "I thought you said we were going to get the more exiting ones!" She stated. Hayner looked at her blankly.

"Yes." He said.

"Well this one looks way more exciting than our stupid bird watching!" She pointed at the fountain. There was a moment of silence before…

"Oh." Hayner said rather unenthusiastically.

"That's it? Oh?!" Olette waved her fists it the air.

"Come on Roxas." Pence grabbed his arm. "Let's check up on your pendant and leave these two lovebirds on their own!" Even though Roxas clearly showed dislike to the final comment, he did as told. The two teens made their way over to the magnificent looking fountain and looked inside. "Wow, the water always seems to look clean." Pence said. "Doesn't it need to be washed out?" Roxas sighed.

"Maybe it has a really good water filter or something, I don't know." Roxas punched Pence in the arm playfully. Pence rubbed the spot that was punched as his friend hit just a little too hard.

'Is he okay? Him and Hayner have been acting all depressed for almost the entire day."

"It doesn't matter." Roxas said. Pence raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter." Roxas repeated. "What keeps the water clean." He explained.

"Oh, right." Pence said as he realised what Roxas meant.

"All that matters is that it'll be easy to find the pendant." Roxas looked into the depths of the fountains water. "And I can't see it anywhere." He announced. Pence looked it over too. He couldn't see it either.

"Well, maybe it floated off to another part of the fountain." Pence said. Roxas gave him a strange look. "What?"

"My pendant is made of metal, it won't float." Roxas explained.

"I'm sure not all metal things sink." Roxas gave him another look. "Wind?" Pence was struggling to come up with an idea of how it disappeared. Roxas shook his head.

"Well alright then. Let's check the rest of the fountain." The two circled the fountain twice before meeting up at the side furthest from Hayner and Olette. "It's gone." Roxas announced.

"Weird." Pence scratched his chin. "Maybe this wonder is real then." Roxas sighed.

'Guess I'm not getting my pendant back. Maybe I really am going to have to give up on my far past.' He sighed again. "Let's go tell Hayner and Olette." Pence nodded. They both walked around the fountain clockwise and made their way over to the other half of their group. Olette was still shouting at Hayner, who was still moping. Pence let out a little laugh.

"I guess it's always gonna be this way." He said as he walked towards Olette.

* * *

Riptide looked over the teens. All four of them would be important for the process to happen. He could feel it. The time was getting ever closer.

"Roxas, Roxas, Roxas." He said as he threw the pendant up and caught it. He did this repeatedly. "You really are something aren't you?" Because of you, I could almost feel a heart. He used his free hand to gesture towards the centre of his chest. "It's too bad I don't get one." He caught the pendant one last time and clenched his hand into a fist to cover it. "It won't be long before I get to choose one of your friends too 'help' the process along." He stared at Roxas. Intrigued by him. "I can almost feel you, Roxas. I know which one to pick." He glanced over to another member of the gang. "I almost feel sorry for you." He grimaced. "I probably would if I had a heart." Riptide stood up as a black portal appeared behind him. "I'll see you when the fire gets started!" He gave a two fingered salute to Roxas, who was unknowing of his presence. "And I hope you don't need this to remember your past." He lifted up the pendent as the portal's darkness began to surround him. "Otherwise, you better have it memorised." The darkness engulfed him.

* * *

"So that's all he was able to tell me." Deidara said. He had an ear piece on with his finger pressing down the button.

"I understand." An incredibly muffled voice said from his earpiece. "But you must know that Wolf has already given me this information." Deidara sighed.

"You couldn't tell me that before I'd finished?!" Deidara sighed. "It's a bit of a waste of my breath if you already knew."

"Oh, quite the contrary." The voice said. "I'm glad to have gotten that information properly confirmed. After all, you know how… evasive, Wolf can be when he wants to."

"You don't trust him?" Deidara inquired.

"Oh, I trust him with all my heart." The voice said. "I say that because I have one and Roxas does not. At least not yet. Wolf is unlikely to turn on me as long as we postpone the process. But keep an eye on him. Even though he is trustworthy, he is not the most unimpeachable of our organisation." Deidara nodded, then frowned as he realised how stupid that was.

"Got it." He said.

"Good." The voice said rather emotionlessly. "I would ask you for a full report on Sephiroth, but I'd rather you spare the details for when you get back."

"I… I failed." Deidara admitted. There was a short pause.

"It was not unlikely that the outcome would be as such. After all, I doubt even I would be able defeat him without putting in a large amount of effort. I'm sure we will come up with a solution eventually." Deidara grimaced.

'Did he know that I was going to lose?'

"See me back at the Citadel." Deidara nodded, and then shook his head.

"Yeah. I got it." Deidara flexed his free hand. The mouth that was embedded into it stuck its tongue out and licked the palm in a feat to mop up any dry clay particles. "Oh, Breeze?"

"What is it?" Breeze asked.

"When do I get to make some art?" Deidara asked.

"In due time." Deidara frowned, showing his displeasure in the answer.

"Fine." Deidara said as he cut off the transmission.

"Hey, Hey Antlers!" Tobi exclaimed. Deidara looked at him, not bothering to correct him again.

"Huh. What do you want?" He asked.

"Do you think To… I mean Reaver could take on mister winged angel guy?" Deidara laughed.

"You couldn't even beat me, Reaver." His face returned to its original expression. "And why do you have to keep talking in third person? I know you don't always do it." Deidara frowned. Tobi cocked his head and put his fists on his hips.

"Is something wrong Antlers Senpai? You're acting awfully grumpy today." He said confidently. Deidara 'tsked'.

"It's nothing that concerns you. It's just that there's been a slight change of plan."

* * *

**I apologize for taking twice as long to get this chapter published. I've been extremely busy with GCSE work (and gaming) you see. I know this all seems a little bit like a bunch of things stuck together with glue and sellotape (My analogy for saying that my pacing is not brilliant), however, I hope that once I reveal what the 'process' is and many other things, it will all merge together nicely. R&R and keep reading.**

**P.S I apologize if the next chapter happens to be late.**


	10. Absence of light

**Chapter 10: Absence of light **

All there was, it seemed, were swirling and twisting colours that filled up the background of this strange world. There was no horizon, nor did it seem, was an end. There was just a haze of greens and blues that clouded the vision of an unwary adventurer and trapped them in this strange world. As Sasuke moved forward, the mist cleared out of his way and he was met with further mist. Sasuke had been walking for almost six hours and this boring, yet unique world was getting evermore laborious.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Sasuke sighed in an incredibly loud way. "Does this stupid dimension ever end?!" He trudged along the smooth, invisible pathway that sounded like it was glass as he continued to step on it. The mist surrounded his vision in an orb. He could see twenty metres in every direction. Left, right, up, down, forward and behind. "I wish I'd never walked through that guy's portal. I bet he set me up for this." He stopped and crossed his arms. "Even my byakugan didn't help. I saw through the mist, but all there was…" He sighed heavily. "… I hate this stupid mist." He said, refusing to finish his last sentence. Sasuke continued to move again, swaying his arms and trying to think about other things in order to take his mind off the subject of this realm's boring features. He thought about the times when he was training back at the leaf village. He almost never got beaten. It was unusual that the first fight he had in Twilight town, he was beaten. Well, second fight anyway. Sasuke frowned. He didn't like the feel of losing, no matter how much he covered it up with a big grin. Suddenly, a great idea popped into his head and he hit his left palm with his right fist. "I've got it! I'll use that technique to find a way out!" Sasuke stood up straight and put his arms out in front of him, bent slightly so that his hands were close to his face. He then made a hand sign with both of his middle and index fingers. They formed a cross pattern. One pair facing up and the other, facing sideways. "Shadow clone jutsu!" He exclaimed. Four white clouds appeared around him. They then faded away, revealing four identical clones that resembled him exactly. They all ran out in different directions, so as to fan out and find an exit. Sasuke sat down and awaited their return. With more time to think, the sudden realisation came to him. 'Wait a sec, it took me this long to come up with such a simple idea!?' He grimaced deeply. Sasuke waited and waited. He waited for one of the shadow clones to find something and come back to him. "Ah, I'm tired of waiting. Perhaps it's time to…" Suddenly, he felt a surge of chakra flow into his body. "I just got some of my chakra back! He turned left and right. "One of my shadow clones must have disappeared! But which one?" He closed his eyes and concentrated. He could still feel two of his shadow clones wandering about. "That one!" He turned to face his right. Sasuke quickly got rid of the other two shadow clones and ran forward at full speed. 'Someone was there. They must know how to get out of here. However, due to their actions, I doubt that they'll wanna be co-operative.' After a short while's running, Sasuke found himself standing where his shadow clone had been defeated. He looked around. There wasn't much sign of anything. "Oh man!" He slumped forward. A sound echoed throughout the realm and Sasuke became alert once more. He turned in the direction of the sound to see a cloaked figure in front of a portal. "Hey you, wait there!" Sasuke pointed at the figure, who didn't react. Sasuke ran at the hooded figure with full force. The figure simply stepped back into the portal and allowed Sasuke to follow. When he made it to the portal, Sasuke felt himself be consumed by darkness, and then transported far across the dimensions to an unknown place. He could not see, hear or feel anything as he went, but he could sense that he was being moved at an incredible speed. He suddenly found himself dropped onto one knee with the figure's hand holding him down by his neck. Sasuke looked up to see a large stone room, decorated with nothing but a few dim lights. Only five metres in front of him was an unusual looking throne on which another hooded figure sat with his arms resting on the sides. He seemed different from the one holding him down somehow. He could feel his powerful aura leaking out like he was a broken pipe or something. This man was obviously powerful.

"It would seem that Wolf has gotten careless, wouldn't you agree?" The man in the throne said. The figure that was holding Sasuke down simply nodded. "It is a pity to see such ingenuity go to waste. Wolf is one of our more aptly minded members." The man stated as he waved his arms outwards. "But it seems that he's becoming more trouble than he is worth." The man's voice was quite deep, yet he spoke with great clarity. Sasuke bared his teeth in order to show his frustration.

"Don't just talk to each other like I'm not here! Who are you!?" Sasuke demanded an answer. The strange man relaxed back into his throne.

"You needn't know my real name as it is none of your concern. However, you may know me as Breeze." Sasuke frowned. This guy sounded like a total weirdo.

"Well then Breeze…" Sasuke struggled under the figures grip as he tried to come loose. "… Tell me. Why did you bring me here?"

"We've been having a steady and on-going movement with the crucibles. It's vital that we keep them active in order to purify them of their sentiency. Your transportation to this universe was simply a bi-product of that movement." Breeze gestured with his hands.

"I don't get it. What do you mean movement?" Sasuke asked a little more calmly.

"Think of it this way. The Ark is a tram station and the crucibles are the trams. Neither one can work without the other. Therefor we constantly move the Crucibles between the two universes that we have access to in order to benefit our interests.

"The Ark?" Sasuke was clearly confused. Breeze sighed.

"The Ark is a magnificent work of engineering and magic. It is potentially more powerful than kingdom hearts itself." Breeze stood up from his chair. "However, you couldn't possibly comprehend such a thing." Breeze was being unusually open about his organization's affairs. Sasuke felt uneasy, but he wanted to know as much as possible.

"I think I've seen a crucible before, when I first came here. Deidara was there too."

"Ah, yes. Atlas. It would seem that he believed taking you back with him would benefit us greatly. He was right on the mark actually. You have been a great help to us."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"You have interfered with Roxas. Boosted his determination it would seem. This boads well for us."

"Why?"

"Because we want Roxas to become in more in tune with his emotion. That way he will grow a heart for himself. But in order to do so, he had to break off from Sora. You gave him that final push he needed in order to do so." Sasuke opened his eyes wider.

"Are you trying to tell me that Roxas doesn't have a heart?" Sasuke didn't understand what they wanted with Roxas. However, Roxas was a good guy, he knew that. He wasn't about to let any harm come to Roxas or his friends.

"Nobodies aren't born with hearts. I understand your confusion as you haven't been in this universe long, but you must understand that it is a simple concept."

"Explain it." Sasuke demanded. Breeze sighed once more.

"There are creatures called Heartless. Odd as they are made from hearts. The hearts that they are made from is taken from the darkness within a living beings heart. When one with a strong heart becomes a heartless, their body takes a mind of its own. When a heart with an extremely strong will becomes a heartless, the empty vessel left behind will look exactly like their predecessor and have the same powers. But they lack the heart as it has become a heartless. These bodies with no hearts are known as nobodies."

"I get it now. Roxas is a nobody."

"Precisely."

"But what about the crucibles. Didn't you say that they were alive or something." Sasuke asked

"Yes. The crucibles were not always as they are now. Crucibles are empty vessels like nobodies. They are able to think and are extremely powerful. However, they devote much of this power into breaking into other universes. They also power the Ark itself. A crucible is not a species however. They are a state of being that one has to aspire to. Those with hearts are not able to do so as we are not empty vessels."

"So your, turning nobodies into crucibles!?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. However it is not as easy as it seems. A nobody has to unlock his true nobody form in order to become a crucible. We tried this with a group named organization XIII. Of its fourteen members, three released their true forms and we were able to manipulate two of those into becoming crucibles."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sasuke said sarcastically. The figure tightened his grip on Sasuke's neck, causing him slight pain.

"Actually, those are fruitful results. I couldn't have possibly hoped for better. We are planning to get some more crucibles though, as that would be beneficial."

"So, you're planning to make Roxas one of your Crucibles!?" Sasuke shouted.

"Have you listened to nothing that I have said? Roxas could never truly become a crucible. He is growing a heart remember. In terms of nobodies, Roxas was always a special case. We have something much more special planned for him."

"You bastard!" Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He used his full strength to get free of the figures grip and ran at Breeze. Breeze didn't bother to react to this. He didn't need to. The figure quickly overtook Sasuke and blocked his approach. The figure then slammed his fist into Sasuke's gut, forcing him to stop. "Gah…" Sasuke dropped to his hands and knees and began gasping for air. The figure then grabbed Sasuke's neck again, throwing him away from Breeze. Sasuke was facing away from the two when a bright light appeared in front of him. He shielded his eyes as they were not used to the light yet. When he looked directly at the light source, he realized that it was a giant monitor. Twilight town appeared on it, then Roxas.

"We need Roxas to grow a heart so that we can fulfil our aims. However, I'll leave it up to you, which universe we utilise." Breeze said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked as he turned his head to face him.

"It takes more than crucibles to power such a magnificent device as the Ark."

"What?"

"In due time, you will understand. But first you must go through a certain process."

"What are you talki…" Suddenly the figure grabbed Sasuke and darkness began to engulf him again. "Damn it! Get off of…" When Sasuke came to, he was back in the strange realm that he had been wandering in before. This was slightly different however. Sasuke could almost see for miles. As he looked around, he realised that he was not alone. A distant figure was standing motionlessly almost a hundred metres from him. He was dressed differently from the organization members. This guy wore a brown top with a large collar and had dark blue trousers.

"Who are you?" The man asked. Sasuke hesitated and didn't have enough time to answer before the man made his assumption. "Is that you Naruto?" The man asked as he looked over Sasuke. Sasuke got goose bumps. This man's voice was cold yet serene. His aura was also very different from Breeze. He was much like an opposite to the last man that he spoke to.

"No, I'm Sasuke." Sasuke replied to the strange man. The man looked up, his face emotionless. His eyes were like an abyss of black. Sasuke felt uneasy. He could feel himself being pulled towards those eyes. The man balled his left hand into a fist.

"Sasuke, huh. That's a familiar name." Suddenly, the man's eyes were no longer black abysses. They had turned blood red.

* * *

"I can't believe it!" Olette screamed loud enough for half of the school to hear. Everyone around her backed off slightly, creating a circle space around her. Roxas skidded out of the crowd and into the space.

"What? What is it?" He asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Olette turned her head to face him and her eyes were full of fire, making Roxas sweat on the back of his neck.

"Look!" She demanded. Roxas immediately turned his gaze to where Olette was pointing. It was a dash board with a large chart of names on. Next to the names was the score that the individual had gotten on the preliminary Exam. After that, the place they came in school was shown. Olette came second in the entire school. Roxas patted her shoulder.

"Well done. You beat almost everyone!" Roxas said stupidly. Olette slapped his hand away.

"That's the point!" Olette shouted as she balled her hand into a fist. "I'm always first. But this guy…" She pointed at the first place name. "… He thinks he can come along and be smarter than me!"

"Hey! What's up Roxas?" Hayner said as he entered the circle.

"Olette is feeling down." Roxas replied. Hayner took one step back.

"Oh, why?"

"Because of some stupid smart guy!" Olette shouted, contradicting herself. Hayner walked over to the dashboard and leaned in on it, squinting to make out the top name.

"Kabuto Yakushi, huh." He stood up straight and scratched his chin. "Sounds like a total dweeb."

"I know, right!" Olette said as she skidded next to Hayner. Hayner immediately put his arm around Roxas neck and leaned closer to him. At least we guys aren't stupid nerds like him. Who needs smarts when you've got brawn?" He tried to flex. "Looks." He posed. "And a crap tonne of fan girls." He waited for the squeals. Unfortunately for him, pretty much all of the fan girls supported Roxas and Sasuke. "Am I right, Roxas?" Hayner gestured for a bro fist but Roxas ignored him and pointed at the dashboard. "Huh?" Hayner took a look at the name Roxas was pointing at. It was Roxas' score. He had come seventeenth out of the two hundred who had taken the exam. Hayner retreated in fear. "Roxas! You're a nerd!" He pointed at Roxas.

"That's a little harsh." Roxas started. "Besides, I'm not that hard, I just studied like I'm supposed to."

"Studied!" Hayner said in horror. "You mean all those times I asked if you wanted to hang out, you were hanging out with a maths book!"

"No, I just didn't want to hang out with you." Roxas said bluntly. However, Hayner didn't seem to acknowledge this.

"Oh, hey." Pence said as he stepped into the circle. Hayner immediately put his arm around Pence's neck. He was showing a lot of distress.

"At least you're not a nerd right. You and I are real bros you know that." He continually poked pence. "Oh, look. I got eighth place!" Pence said with glee. Hayner's jaw dropped and he took his arm away from Pence. The look on his face made him look almost dead. Hayner backed off and pointed at the other three members of his group. "You're all nerds!" He shouted. The three were completely un-phased by this and they turned back to the dashboard, completely ignoring him. 'Oh my god. This is the end isn't it?' He thought to himself as he grovelled at the back of the hallway.

"So, who is this Kabuto guy? I've never met him before." Roxas said.

"He's a tyrant!" Olette replied with her fists balled and fire still raging in her eyes.

"I think he's an exchange student from someplace else." Pence answered properly. The bell rang, signalling the break.

* * *

Roxas wandered around the campus with his friends. The four were one of the many groups that hung out together. There was 'Hayner's gang', the sporty guys, the i.c.t nerds, the cheerleaders, the artists and many more notable groups. There was also, of course, 'Seifer's gang'.

"Hey, idiot." Seifer shouted. Seifer was a little older than Roxas and as such he was in a higher school year. Roxas turned to see Seifer. He was about to come up with some sort of come back, but then realized that it was not him that Seifer had directed his insult at. The person who Seifer was talking to was a tall, silver haired man with glasses and strange clothing.

"That was a little unnecessary." The man said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Besides. Being an idiot implies either that I'm ignorant or that I have a low I.Q. The fact that I have neither suggests that I am not an idiot."

"Shut up, newbie." Seifer pointed at him. "We know your new here. We just wanna tell you the rules around here."

"Is that so?" The man asked.

"Yeah. We're the disciplinary committee." Seifer said.

"Yeah, we're the best, you know!" Fuu said.

"Period." Said Rai.

"I see." Said the man. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm sure I'll get along fine." He put on a smile.

"I don't think you get it. If you don't listen to us, we'll have to have to take disciplinary measures."

"Hey, I think that's him." Pence said to Roxas.

"Who?" Roxas asked.

"That's Kabuto." Pence replied.

"Oh." Roxas looked over the man in closer detail. He didn't look like he could put up much of a fight. He was clearly intellectual though.

"I don't think that will be necessary." Kabuto said.

"Now listen here…" Seifer tried to say before he was interrupted.

"Hey Seifer. How 'bout you pick on someone your own size for once!" Roxas stupidly said as he ran between Kabuto and Seifer. He didn't take notice that what he had said didn't make very much sense as Kabuto was actually slightly taller than Seifer. However, it would seem that everyone else remained ignorant to this fact as well.

"Oh, it's you, Blondie." Seifer said with little enthusiasm. This too, did not make much sense considering his position as a blonde.

"Shut up. I don't think I need to remind you who whooped your ass two times in the past few weeks." Roxas gloated. He heard a single 'ooooooh!' which was obviously from Hayner. It was like a second sense for fan girls to know when their idols were in a situation. Roxas had expected to be backed up by their cheers, but none came. 'Maybe they got tired of cheering me on.' He thought to himself. His assumption was wrong however. The fan girls were just in another part of the school and they stampeded towards Roxas' location. Many were still trying to get their Roxas shirts on, but most had come pre-prepared with Roxas fan girl tops on underneath their normal clothing. There were also a few die hard Seifer fans, but after being defeated by Roxas, the majority switched sides. Roxas heard the squealing of fan girls in the distance and was surprised to see a hoard of them charging in his direction. He was slightly relieved that they had not lost confidence in him, but mostly felt dread as the fan girl armies came closer. They were going to be a real bother.

"It's all right ladies." Hayner said confidently as he marched in front of the oncoming crowd. "I'm here. No need to go further." Hayner posed with his hand on his chin and a glint shined in his teeth.

"We don't care!" The fan girls shouted unanimously as the trampled him into the ground. After the fan girls had past, Hayner lay on the ground, twitching with the little strength he had left.

"You didn't have to be so harsh!" He exclaimed. Eventually, the fan girls surrounded Roxas, Seifer, Fuu, Rai and Kabuto.

"ROXAS, ROXAS" Fan girls shouted.

"SEIFER, SEIFER" Other fan girls shouted.

"Well, well Roxas. It looks like it's time to get your ass served to you." Seifer's gang all produced Struggle bats and prepared to fight.

"Hey, I don't even have a struggle bat!" Roxas proclaimed. A bat was immediately thrown out of the crowd and Roxas fumbled to catch it.

"No, I want him to use my bat!" One of the fan girls shouted.

"No, use mine." Another one demanded. The fan girls began fighting over whose bat Roxas should use (even though he was already holding one).

"Are you okay fighting?" Roxas asked Kabuto. Kabuto cocked his head and took a single step back so as to balance himself.

"I'm not exactly an expert…" Kabuto plainly stated. One of the fan girls threw a struggle bat towards Roxas but it went overhead and Kabuto caught it with ease. He then spun it fast and stopped it, creating a large 'thwack' sound. "… but I'll certainly try to handle the situation the best I can. Roxas grinned. That grin soon faded when he heard a strange commotion going on in the crowds, getting ever closer. Suddenly, Hayner fell face first out of the crowds and crashed into the ground. He quickly got upright and snatched a bat from one of the fan girls.

"Didn't think that you could get all of the action, did you?" Hayner asked. Roxas simply replied by returning his grin to his face. The three in both sides faced each other and prepared to fight. The fan girls squealed and chanted as the tension built up.

"Hey dweeb. How about you forfeit already." Seifer started. "I've gotten way better since we last fought. You haven't got a ghost of a chance at winning. Save yourself the embarrassment." Seifer smiled at the shorter and younger blonde.

"Get real!" Roxas shouted. At that point, all of Roxas' fan girls began to squeal with excitement. Seifer's fan girls replied by trying to drown out their chants with their own. Seifer heard all of the chanting and decided to jump the gun. He immediately pelted at Roxas before he could react. He was almost two metres from Roxas when the other side made their move. It wasn't Roxas who fought back however. Kabuto dropped his bat and stood in front of Roxas. Seifer lunged and Kabuto took the hit in his waist. Seifer was just as surprised as Roxas. Kabuto had moved just before Seifer made the hit. Kabuto used this changed to pat the bat away with his left hand, forcing Seifer to drop it. He then used his right hand to grab Seifer's right wrist and twist it around. He dropped Seifer to one knee and twisted his wrist further, pulling it up into the air as he did so. Seifer cried out in pain. Kabuto then pulled a little harder and used his left hand to steady Seifer's arm so that he could pull his wrist a way it shouldn't go. Seifer cried out loud this time and all of the fan girls stopped cheering. Seifer gritted his teeth as he tried to endure the pain.

"How about you and your friends find another group of people to pick on. I don't take kindly to bullying." He loosened his grip on Seifer's wrist slightly. Before Seifer could answer, Kabuto twisted his wrist again in order to provoke the answer that he wanted to hear.

"Fine, fine. We have better things to do anyway." Seifer said spitefully. Kabuto released him and Seifer backed off slightly before standing up straight again. He rubbed his wrist and made a snarling expression at Kabuto, whose face remained plain. "Come on. Let's go." Seifer and his gang walked away. The fan girls disbanded as they were disappointed that they didn't see a big fight between their two idols. Roxas was still shocked.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked Kabuto. Kabuto turned around and changed his facial expression to a friendly smile.

"I've been studying to be a doctor. I know a lot about anatomy, so I know which way different parts shouldn't turn." He said.

"That doesn't answer how you were able to take that hit without flinching or get an advantage on Seifer." Roxas stated. Kabuto shrugged.

"Dumb luck, I suppose. As I said, I'm not an expert at fighting." He put plainly. Roxas was not sure that this was the truth. He turned to see Olette and Pence run towards him. He was about to greet Olette, but she ran to Kabuto instead.

"Thanks for helping Roxas." She said.

"It's no problem. Besides, he was just protecting me, remember." Kabuto said. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Oh, right. I'm Olette. What about you?"

"I'm Kabuto." Olette looked up at the taller man in an odd fashion.

"Kabuto?" She said emotionlessly. Her face turned plain, making Kabuto feel a little awkward. Then her face revealed her anger and he backed off slightly. "You think you're smarter than me, huh!" She shouted at him, inches away from his face.

"Well, I am older than you by the looks of it. Why?" He inquired. Olette didn't reply. She just shook her fists in anger. 'She's a strange one. One minute she's thanking me, the next she's shouting at me."

"Olette never gets beaten in the academic tests." Pence explained.

"Oh." Kabuto said as he pushed the glasses back up the bridge of his nose. The sun's glared from the lenses, blocking everyone's view of his eyes.

"I got it!" Olette shouted as she hit her palm with her fist. "In order to make it up to me, you're gonna buy us all lunch!" Kabuto was a little stunned by this remark. He scratched his head.

"Well, I guess it's the least I can do for Roxas' help." He said to the group.

"You mean to make up to me!" Olette demanded.

"Right, of course." Kabuto said.

"Hey." Roxas called over to him. "You did all of the fighting anyway. I think you could have handled it yourself." Kabuto turned to face him.

"Perhaps. I'd like to thank you anyway." Kabuto smiled. Olette turned away from Kabuto and crossed her arms. She was obviously in a bad mood. Hayner, Roxas, Kabuto and Pence all sweat dropped.

* * *

"Where did Antlers Senpai go?" Tobi asked himself as he brought a hand to his forehead and surveyed the area. "Didn't he say something about going back to base?" He put his hands on his hips. "If only I could remember where it was." Suddenly, the familiar figure of a man in a black cloak covered in red clouds caught his eye. "Antlers!" Tobi waved his hands. "Hey Antlers!" The figure turned around just as Tobi landed in front of him after a long jump. "Hey…"

"I'm Riptide." The figure stated.

"Oh. Sorry, I thought you were someone else." Tobi said.

"Clearly." Riptide rested one arm on the other and rested his chin on his hand. Looking over Twilight town, he couldn't help but feel depressed. "I'm quite busy. So if you don't mind…" He gestured with his hand.

"Have you seen Antlers around?" Tobi asked, ignoring Riptide's comment.

"You mean Atlas right?" Riptide turned to face him.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Tobi cocked his head. Riptide sighed.

"I haven't seen him since he went off to fight Sephiroth. How did that go by the way?"

"He lost." Tobi said miserably.

"I see." Riptide turned to face the purple blotch that stained the otherwise perfectly Azure sky. "The tear are going to come soon. When that happens, I'll have to confront Roxas. I don't know how that'll turn out. Don't know how I feel about it yet."

"Tear. You mean that thingy in the sky." Tobi asked, confused.

"They haven't told you?" Tobi shook his head. "That purple blotch is a tear in the veil to another world. Between those worlds is a space known as the void. When it is exposed to worlds through a tear, the void will produce creatures that seek to feed on light. They are also known as the tear. I don't know much about them other than that." Riptide explained.

"Oh. That's weird." Tobi stated.

"How so?"

"Because they feed on light. Won't they want to be close to Roxas? Y'know, because he's full of light and stuff."

"Did you know that darkness is simply the absence of light? It is not a form of power. It's just the true energy from our soul that remains unscathed by the light. They will try to feed off of Roxas' power, it's true. However, even though we want him to remain bright for now, his powers are still locked inside of him. The tear will help to bring his light to the surface."

"Oh. I think I get it now." Tobi said happily.

"Good. Now that you've got it memorized, you can leave me be now. I'm waiting for Archangel. We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

**I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. Hopefully It's length makes up for it. So I've tried to reveal more about the plot (including the Ark, crucibles, tear and stuff). So what do you think? Does it make more or less sense now? Tell me in the review section. Also... Yay, my tenth chapter is out. Don't worry though. There is a lot more coming. I also promise to get one out by the end of next sunday (British time zone). That'll be like a christmas special one for 'special things to happen.' Then I'll stop for the Christmas holidays before starting again.**


	11. Rain

**Chapter 11: Rain**

"I don't get it." Roxas stated. "I thought the prom was supposed to be at the end of the year. We've hardly been here a few weeks." Roxas walked up to the couch and sat on it. This was his spot in the usual place that the gang hung out.

"Yeah, but this isn't the prom. This is just a dance thingy." Pence tried to explain it. "It's just something we have in the last year of school." Pence stood up and gestured with his hands. "It's not got a theme or anything. We just have to dress smart and find a partner to go with. That's all it is. You don't even have to go if you don't want to."

"I get to miss a day of school! Nice!" Hayner threw his fist into the air.

"No, you don't. The dance is after school." Pence said. He crossed his arms in order to show his lack of enthusiasm for Hayner's not so vast amounts of knowledge. Hayner dropped his fist and looked down at the ground.

"Oh, man!" Hayner rested his arms on his knees and looked up at Roxas and Olette. So, are you two going?" Olette smiled.

"Of course I am." She said. Roxas nodded. Hayner sighed. "Well, I guess I might as well go too." He stared at the ground for a moment, pondering over something. He then looked back up at the two, a large grin plastered across his face. "I wouldn't want to miss out on any of the fun, would I?"

"Hey! Why didn't you ask me if I was going?" Pence asked. Hayner turned his head to face him and put on a fairly blank expression.

"Because I already know that you're going. It's pretty obvious." Hayner grinned again.

"Oh." Pence said. "How come?"

"Because you haven't stopped talking about it since we got here."

"Oh." Pence frowned. Olette held in a little bit of laughter and put a fist in front of her mouth, showing the humour that she felt.

"So, who do you want to go with?" Hayner asked Roxas.

"Huh?" Roxas came to attention.

"Who. Do. You. Want. To. Go. To. The. Prom. With?"

"Um… I haven't really thought about it." Roxas knew who he wanted to go with. He just didn't want to embarrass himself.

"Well, I have an idea of who I wanna go…"

"Hey, why don't you go with me?" Olette suggested to Roxas.

"Huh?" Roxas leaned back from her. 'Is she asking what I think she's asking?' He turned pale.

"Roxas?" Olette asked. "Are you okay?" Roxas turned slightly red and looked away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little under the weather is all." Olette smiled.

"Well?" She asked.

"Well what?" Roxas replied.

"Do you want to be my date to the dance?" Olette asked. Roxas turned back. He was rather flustered.

"S-Sure. I guess so."

"Then it's settled." Olette smiled. "Oh, Hayner, I have a friend who'll be a good date for you!" She said. Hayner looked unimpressed.

"Fine." He said with little enthusiasm. Olette pointed at Pence. "I know the perfect date for you too!"

"Actually, I already have a date." Pence scratched the back of his head. Suddenly, the other three looked at him in shock. Hayner jumped down from his spot and leaned in on Pence so that their faced were inches apart. He smiled an almost sinister smile.

"So, who's the lucky girl, huh?" Hayner inquired. "Have you been seeing her for a while now?"

"No, it's nothing like that! She's just going to the dance with me. That's all."

"Oh, Really. How come I don't believe you then? He leaned in closer, making Pence feel really uncomfortable." Hayner grinned. His grin faded when he was punched in the gut. He looked down. It was Olette's fist. Her head was down and she had brought her left fist back on Hayner's gut.

"Not again!" He gasped as he collapsed to the floor. Olette looked up at Pence.

"Don't mind him. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."

"Why did you hit me then?" Hayner asked. Olette immediately turned around and gave him the evil eyes. The next moment, Hayner was grovelling in the corner once more, mumbling to himself.

* * *

Roxas sat on his bed, watching the news on his small TV. He had just recently gotten it, and was now using it quite often. He ate out of a bag of potato chips, which drowned out the sound of the anchors and reporters with crunching.

"Unusual seismic activity is hitting hollow bastion. It's not unusual to get light tremors around the canyons; however, this earthquake was reaching almost seven on the Richter scale." The reporter announced.

'Hollow bastion? I don't think that I've ever heard of that place before.' Roxas looked at the background behind the reporter. "Doesn't look like I'd ever want to go there either." Roxas said out loud. From what Roxas could see, Hollow bastion looked like a mess.

"The hollow bastion restoration committee are already getting started on reparations. We have inquired as to why the tremors are getting worse, although we have had no reply. Squall Leonhart, founder of the hollo-…" Roxas turned the TV off using his remote. It was time to find some suitable clothing for the dance. It was only a few days before the dance, so he didn't have very long to do so. Roxas walked downstairs and out the front door. He walked along the streets, trying to remember any good clothe shops. Once he found one, he stepped inside and looked around. There were many fine clothes on display and a few smartly dressed attendants to go with them. As he looked across the racks of clothes he caught a glimpse of a brunette girl who was looking at the dresses. It was Olette. Roxas immediately hid behind cover. He wasn't sure exactly why he was hiding. But he remained hidden anyway. He took a peek around the corner and saw her talking to one of the attendees. A little smile grew across his face.

"Hey, Roxas! Isn't it weird, us meeting here?" Hayner threw his arm around Roxas neck. Olette immediately turned to face the two boys. Roxas frowned deeply.

"Hey, guys!" She waved at them. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Same reason as you." Hayner explained.

"Oh, I didn't know that you were trying on dresses, Hayner." Hayner frowned.

"Very funny. Also, why was that directed at me…?" He pointed at himself. "… and not Roxas?"

"That's obvious." Olette said. "It's because you're way more girly than Roxas." She smiled. Hayner removed his arm from Roxas' neck and crossed it with his other arm.

"No I'm not." He said.

"Roxas doesn't cry whenever I hit him."

"You only hit him in a fight. You never stop hitting me!" Hayner would have said more, however, he realized that almost everyone in the shop was now looking in his direction. He laughed a little and scratched the back of his head. Everyone returned to their own business. Hayner walked up to Olette, with Roxas in follow. "So, are you here trying on dresses?"

"That's what I said, isn't it." Olette frowned.

"Right."

"Well, anyway, I have to go." Roxas said erratically.

"Didn't you just get here?" Hayner asked. But before he could get an answer, Roxas left. "Weird. What's up with him?" He turned to face the door and put one hand on his hip and the other on his forehead. Olette frowned.

'Roxas…'

* * *

The sun and the moon slowly made their way in their path to trading places. As the light shone down from the Azure sky, it grew a faint orange, bathed in the pure light of the pale sun that shone its glorious rays down upon the streets of twilight town. As the motions of the clouds changed, they warped. As the motion of the sky changed, it warped. As the motions of Roxas changed, he warped. All three are things that slowly change over time; the only thing that does not change is their connection to the purple tear that rips through this world.

* * *

It was the time of the dance and crowds began to form around the school. Roxas stood there in a suit, his hair gelled back a little. He waited in a long line of school pupils who were all eagerly waiting to be led inside the school. The dance was to be held in the main hall. Roxas straightened his bow-tie and pulled his suit down a little. Looking over the crowd, he could see a few notable members of the school. Seifer was walking around with Fuu on his arm. He looked rather silly since he was still dressed in his trench coat, even though Fuu had a nice, red dress on. Rai was there with a girl who Roxas didn't recognize and even Kabuto had turned up. However, like Roxas, he was standing alone. Roxas was about to walk towards him and greet him when he noticed a particular friend with a certain girl linking her arm around his. Hayner was standing there with one of Olette's friends. The girl was giddy and smiling. Hayner, however, looked like he had just woken up. He looked unusually depressed for such an event. Soon after, Pence caught the eye of Roxas too. He was dressed much smarter than Roxas and definitely looked the part. He was standing next to a blonde girl who looked twice as giddy as the one with Hayner. There was no sign of Olette though.

'She must be late or something.' Roxas thought to himself. The line began moving and everyone moved inside of the school, save a few of the staff members. As Roxas was led into the hall, he saw all of the decorations that had been put up. He didn't know whether it was because of this, but the hall looked a little bigger than normal. He looked at all of the couples who were preparing for the dance. Hayner and Pence were talking at the right side of the room. Roxas walked over to join them.

"Hey guys. What's up?" He asked them as he waved to them. Hayner turned and instantly burst into fits of laughter.

"Bahahhaha!" He placed one hand on his gut and used the other one to point at Roxas.

"What's so funny?" Roxas asked.

"FFFffffffh…" Hayner could not speak. "Hahaha… It's… It's your Ha-Hair!" He shouted. Roxas looked up and stroked his hair. It was gelled smoothly back. This was an odd look for Roxas indeed. Pence turned to face Roxas as well and he almost burst into laughter.

"Come on, it's not that funny." Roxas raised an eyebrow as the other two tried to get a hold of themselves. Pence immediately stopped laughing as he came to sudden realisation.

"Hey, where is Olette. Wasn't she coming with you?"

"Maybe… Haha… Maybe…" Hayner tried to fight the laughter. "…Maybe she saw his hair and ran a mile! Hahahaha!" Hayner bent over and started hitting his knee.

"She's just late. That's all." Roxas crossed his arms. Hayner's date nodded.

"Olette would never do anything that mean Hayner!" She said. Hayner's laughter slowed down and he made a gesture as if he was wiping a tear away.

"I know, I know. It was just a joke. Man, Roxas. You really made my day, you know that?" Roxas frowned. He turned to Pence.

"So, who's your date?" He asked.

"Oh…" Pence threw his hand in the direction of the blonde girl who he stood with outside. "This is Rikku. I met her a couple weeks ago. It turns out that she didn't have a date, so I kindly asked." Rikku waved at Roxas. She wore a short orange dress with yellow ribbons and frills covering it. Her legs were bare, except for an odd looking bag that was strapped to her left thigh. She also wore yellow and Orange shoes to match.

'Olette's favourite colour is orange. I wonder if she'll come dressed in that colour.'

"Hey, Roxas. I'm here!" A familiar voice said. Roxas turned to see Olette. Her hair was braided into some sort of pattern. It suited her well. Roxas looked over her dress to be proved wrong. It was lilac in colour. It had a recurring pattern too it. There was a short bit of material that held up the dress over Olette's right shoulder. The frills and patterns, which were purple, headed from her right armpit down towards the left side of her waist. The bottom of the dress ended just below the knee on the right side and just above the ankle at the left side. The bottom of the dress was layered with many frills. It looked very nice on Olette. Roxas gulped.

"You look beautiful." He said. He could sense Hayner sniggering behind him. He ignored it. Olette put a hand out in front of her mouth and made a quiet giggling sound. She looked at Roxas. Her eyes shone an emerald green. Roxas could feel himself being drawn into them. Olette smiled a big smile and pointed at something. It was Roxas' Hair. He frowned.

'Is it really that bad?' He thought to himself.

"It doesn't look that bad…" Olette said as if she could mind-read. "… but I prefer your hair as it normally is. Roxas pulled an expression on his face that wasn't clear as to what emotion it was supposed to be portraying. Olette took his hand. "Look, the dance is starting!" Suddenly, the music began to play. However, this was not to many people's taste. It was an old song called 'In the mood'. Not really dancing music, but hopefully the song choice would change. Everyone walked onto the dance floor anyway. There were a lot of partners in the hall. It was almost hard to move. Luckily, many were also dotted around different sections of the school, which made the space to move around in the hall, larger. As Roxas began to dance with Olette, he caught a whiff of some light perfume. It smelt nice.

"You look beautiful." He repeated. Olette laughed a little.

"You said that. You don't look too bad yourself." Olette smiled. It wasn't exactly much of a compliment, but Roxas took it anyway. Olette opened her eyes and stared into Roxas'. They were a magnificent sapphire blue. As they continued to stare, the music was drowned out in what seemed to be a perfect moment.

* * *

"So, what's going to happen to us?" Riptide asked. "When Roxas finally gains a heart, I mean." Riptide was leaning back on the school wall with his arms crossed. He looked down at the floor miserably.

"I don't know. But it isn't something to get all depressed about." Archangel made gesture signs with her hands. "Lighten up." Her voice was unusually feminine, even for a girl (if that makes any sense). "I know your feel connected to Roxas and all, but you've gotta let it go."

"But what about you? You can feel him too right. You know that the time is coming near…" Riptide kicked off the wall and stood up straight, making gestures with his hands. "What I don't get is why Breeze wants Roxas to get a heart."

"Look, Riptide…"

"I told you not to call me that. The name's…"

"Oh, come on! You know the codenames are cool!" Archangel exclaimed with glee.

"I don't care." Riptide looked up at the sky. The tear was larger than it was a week ago. "I just want someone to remember me the way I am."

"Huh?" Archangel looked at Riptide. "No need to get all gloomy again. You're not going to die if Roxas gets a heart."

"Can't you feel it? Roxas is getting a heart and we're getting pushed out."

"I can feel it." Archangel admitted. "But I'm not as connected to Roxas as you are. I don't know what's going to happen."

"What about when he becomes connected to the Ark, huh? What use will I have then? Roxas is remembering, but he dropped his past!"

"Why are you getting so worked up about one guy?" Archangel asked.

"Because so many things are happening too fast. I want to know what Breeze wants with Roxas! With me too!"

"Riptide. I've known you for a while now. You're a good guy. I know that nothing bad is going to happen to you."

"Roxas is good guy too. I doubt that'll make any difference though."

"Riptide, I don't know what to say. If Roxas wasn't a good guy, none of this would be happening and you wouldn't even be here. You know that's why Breeze had you…"

"I know, I know. I guess I'm just really nervous. Roxas forgot what the flames of his old buddy are like. I'm going to have to remind him."

"I'm sure you'll do a great job of it too!" Archangel cocked her head.

* * *

The music stopped after a while and Roxas went to sit down on one of the seats adjacent to his friends'. Olette sat on the other side of him.

"How's the dance going for ya?" Hayner asked. Roxas shrugged.

"Quite well, I guess."

"In what aspect?" Hayner raised an eyebrow. Roxas turned a little red.

"Nothing in particular." Roxas said. Olette tugged his shoulder so that he would face her.

"The music's starting again." She announced.

"Already!?" Hayner sighed. He took his date back to the dance floor. Pence followed. Olette and Roxas got up too. Olette was about to walk back onto the dance floor. However, she was stopped by a tug of Roxas' hand.

"What is it?" She asked. Roxas looked into her eyes.

"Do you really want to be here?" He asked.

"What are you trying to say? I like…" Olette saw that Roxas was deadly serious.

"I mean the dance. Is this the way you want to spend your evening?"

"Well… I guess it is kinda boring." Olette replied. "I would have rather gone shopping to be honest." She laughed a little. Roxas smiled at her.

"Then why don't we?" He asked.

"What?"

"Why don't we get out of here and go somewhere that you actually want to go?"

"Well, it wouldn't be fair on Pence and Hayner." She looked around to find the two.

"They're too infatuated with their dates, to notice."

"Infatuated… That's a big word for you Roxas!" Olette couldn't help but make fun. Roxas just smiled and pointed at Hayner and Pence. Pence was having fun, but Hayner looked a little bored. She didn't really mind that much.

"Sure. Let's go then." She smiled. Roxas smiled back. The two left the hall and, in turn, the school premises. As they walked through the streets, the moon and the stars shone down beautifully from the heavens. Another shiny object caught Roxas' eye.

"You're wearing it." He sounded surprised. Olette turned to face him. They were in the centre of a wide street, next to the park. "Apart from them, it seemed abandoned.

"Wearing what?" Olette looked at the centre of Roxas' gaze. "Oh, this. Why wouldn't I wear it? It was given to me by someone I care about." She pulled out the necklace that Roxas had given her as a birthday present.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Roxas smiled at her.

"You're acting a little weird today, Roxas."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Your way happier than you normally are."

"Am I? I guess I hadn't really noticed."

"You don't think I know why?" Olette asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"What are you talking ab…"

"I know you like me Roxas." Olette explained. Roxas gulped. "I mean, you like-like me. Right?" Roxas turned red. He felt a little woozy. He hadn't expected Olette to catch on to him this quickly. He had wanted a chance to explain it first. Olette smiled at him. "I knew it." She pointed at him. "I knew you liked me too!" Roxas opened his eyes wide.

'Too? Liked her too? Is she saying what I think she's saying?' "Olette. You're right. I do really like you. As more than a friend. But did you just say that you like me too?" Olette's smile faded a little.

"You mean, you didn't know." She beamed her smile again. "I guess that just goes to prove that I'm the smartest in our gang." Olette tugged at his cheeks. "Roxas, you silly head." She laughed.

"Hey, stop that." He grabbed her wrists. Her face was only the width of a 30cm ruler away. Roxas' heart pounded like a drum. He could feel it. Olette could feel her heart pounding too. They both had now fully realized each of their feelings for each other.

"Roxas, I…" Olette's voice trailed off. She was lost in the moment. So was Roxas. He could feel the temptation forcing him to move. He gave in to it easily and moved in for the kiss. He had expected her to move her head away, as if she wasn't ready for it. He was expecting something awkward to happen. However, nothing turned up to ruin the moment. Their faces slowly moved nearer and nearer. Their eyes were locked in a gaze. Roxas was now centimetres away from kissing her. She closed her eyes in anticipation. This moment was to be perfect. Roxas stopped. He could feel water trickling down his face. What was it? It was trickling down Olette's face too. The sound of rain got louder and water began gushing over the two. Olette quickly opened her eyes and moved back. "Ah! It's raining!" She said as she tried to stop the rain from ruining her hair.

'Stupid rain!' Roxas thought to himself. Olette staggered about in the rain. She felt a warm, dry sensation on her shoulders. "Here, take this." Roxas said with a smile. He had given her his tuxedo jacket.

"But you'll get wet!" She exclaimed. She could see that he was already drenched. Water ran down his face and all over his white top. He held out a hand.

"Follow me." He said. Olette immediately took his hand and did as he said. Roxas led her through the park and all the way up onto the hill where a large oak tree stood. It shielded them from the rain. "It should be dry here." Roxas said as he leaned back on the tree. Olette offered him his jacket back, but he refused. "It's still quite cold. I'm fine anyway." Olette moved closer to him and kneeled over his legs. Roxas turned red once more. "What are you doing?" He asked. Olette tugged the jacket up so that it stayed on her shoulders and then moved her hands closer to Roxas' face. She then moved them down slightly and undid his bow-tie. Roxas released a breath that he hadn't realized that he was holding in. "Thanks. That was pretty tight." He said. Olette then placed one hand on his cheek on kissed him. Roxas was kind of shocked by this, but pleasantly. When Olette stopped kissing him, she turned around and sat down cross legged. She put the jacket around her front and leaned back on Roxas. Her Head was leaning on his left shoulder.

"So how long have you liked me for? In this way I mean." Olette asked Roxas.

"For a long while now." He replied.

"That's not very specific y'know. I've been into you for over a year now."

"I was into you only a couple of months after we met." Roxas explained.

"That's a long time to not say anything about a crush."

"I know. I guess I was afraid that you'd turn me down." Roxas looked up at the sky, past the leaves of the oak tree. Olette smiled.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." She said calmly. Roxas smiled. Olette struggled to get comfortable and dug her head deeper into Roxas' shoulder.

"Are you tired?" He asked. Olette nodded. With that, Roxas slowly moved away from the tree and took Olette with him. He lay down on the grass, still guarded from the rain by the leaves. Olette lay half on top of him, half to the left of him. She brought one arm across his torso, with the hand holding onto the right side of his neck. Her other arm was brought up behind her and her hand was above her head. Roxas brought his right arm over Olette's left arm (the one on his torso) and held her with it. She crossed a leg over his and nuzzled her head under Roxas' chin as he put his other arm under her head so that she could use it like a pillow. Olette breathed almost silently out of her nose and smiled. She dragged the jacket over both of them like a cover and returned her arm to its original place over his torso. Roxas looked up at the sky. He could feel a million butterflies inside of his chest. He felt lighter than the air itself. The moment before, where they stared into each other's eyes and the moment in the dance hall did not compare. This was a perfect moment.

* * *

**Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Come on, say it. You know you want to. I'm sorry that this is a day later than I promised, but my sister was hoarding the laptop in her bedroom so I couldn't upload it. Also, I've decided that all of the really important chapters will have one word for their names. Anyway, tell me in the review section what you'd like to see more of. Do you want to see more Roxette? More true Akatsuki action? Are you interested in hearing about Sasuke Uzumaki? Also, what character's do you want to see more of. Are you a Tobi fan? A fan of Hayner? (I know the review section isn't for that. However, it's my review section. I can do what I like with it). I've got lot's more to come. Just after the Christmas holidays. I'm looking forward to revealing more of the plot.**


	12. Sasuke vs Sasuke - Uzumaki vs Uchiha

**Chapter 12: Sasuke vs Sasuke / Uzumaki vs Uchiha**

Naruto leaned over the metal fence that surrounded his balcony. Placing his arms upon them, he felt the cool breeze caress his cheeks and at the same time he could feel the warm glow that the sun bathed the leaf village in. It was a warm summer's day and all seemed perfect. However, there was one thing that troubled Naruto. In fact, it troubled quite a few people in his village. It's been a few weeks now. A few weeks since Sasuke Uzumaki left for his first B rank mission. He was the only one in his squad who didn't come back. Naruto breathed out heavily.

'If I can't even bring my best friend, Sasuke back... How could I ever be Hokage? If I can't even bring my own son, Sasuke back… How could I ever be a good father?" He felt arms wrapping around his waist. It was Hinata.

"What's wrong? She asked, looking over Naruto's shoulder. Naruto clenched his teeth a little.

"Hinata, Sasuke's been gone way too long. Even we couldn't find him." He sighed. "It's just that I'm worried. Isn't that how I'm supposed to feel? You're worried too, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Hinata smiled. Naruto was confused by this. "It's a parent's duty to be worried about their child. But he isn't a child anymore. Even if we still see him as our little boy, he's almost a grown man now. He's almost as old as you were when you unlocked the Rasen-Shuriken." Naruto was still pretty clueless, as he always seemed to be.

"Uh…" Naruto scratched his chin. "I don't get it." He said plainly.

"Sasuke is exactly like you were when you were his age. I trust him to stay alive. That's what you would have done. You would have kept fighting." Hinata stated. Naruto cracked a smile, his faith slightly renewed.

"Yeah, I guess so. But 'exactly like me' aren't the words that I would have chosen." Naruto gave her a concerned look. "He's way more laid back than I am."

"That just means he won't get into as much trouble." Hinata assured him. Naruto's smile grew a little wider.

"Yeah. Your right Hinata! He's gonna be fine." There was no faking in his voice. Naruto was now fully confident that Sasuke would be fine. A man suddenly jumped down from the roofs and onto the fence, startling Naruto who staggered back, almost knocking Hinata over. Kakashi looked at them and smiled beneath his mask.

"Hey, Naruto." He greeted him. "Hinata." Kakashi waved.

"Whoa, Kakashi, you startled me there. Don't do that." Naruto could feel his heart pounding.

"Oh, Sorry." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "How's the search for Sasuke going?" He asked. Naruto was suddenly sitting in the corner of his bedroom, a dark aura surrounded him. Kakashi sweat-dropped. "That bad, huh?" He closed his right eye for a bit, and then opened it again.

"Naruto is still really worried about Sasuke. It's a bit of a touchy subject at the moment. We're sure he'll be fine though." Hinata explained.

'Sasuke or Naruto?' Kakashi thought to himself as he took a look at the blond man, grovelling in the corner of his own bedroom. 'Naruto sure did a good job at keeping Sasuke a taboo word.' "Oh, that's good." Kakashi replied to Hinata. "Naruto!" He called out to him. Naruto practically teleported back to his original position.

"Yeah, what is it Kakashi sensei?" He asked.

"You've got to remember what's so special about Sasuke's chakra and jutsu." Kakashi answered. Naruto opened his eyes wider. His smile grew with it.

"What's that Kakashi sensei?!" Naruto was itching to know.

'This guy, he really is clueless isn't he." Kakashi showed Naruto a slideshow of cartoony diagrams. "Sasuke is a direct descendent of both the Uzumaki and the Hyuuga clan." Naruto nodded his head as he followed Kakashi's words. Hinata just leaned back on the side fence and quietly listened. "That means he has inherited traits from both families. On Hinata's side, he has inherited the byakugan, allowing him to see what would normally be impossible to see."

"Right." Naruto acknowledged this. But loads of people in Hinata's family have that power. What's so special?

'This is going to be hard to explain.' Kakashi thought to himself. "Just be quiet, and we'll get to the important part." He explained. Naruto nodded. "You're right about one thing. In Hinata's family, the Byakugan isn't anything special. All of them have it. However, they don't have the powers that the Uzumaki's have." Naruto's smile grew even wider. "Remember when I told you that your chakra levels are four fold of mine?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, I do. You said that if I didn't have to keep the nine-tails in my body, I'd have a hundred times more chakra than you!" Naruto replied.

"Precisely. Sasuke doesn't have to look after the Kyuubi. That means he has inherited your vast amounts of chakra. That means that even with your vast amounts of chakra, he has you beat 25 fold. Sasuke not only has the ability to use one of the three great dojutsu, but he has more chakra than anyone else in the entire village."

"Wow, that's awesome!" Naruto slammed his hands onto the bar at the top of his fence. Kakashi jumped back onto the rooftop opposite the balcony.

"Yes, he is a somewhat special case. That's not all tough. He's also got the extremely high stamina that the Uzumaki's have and is able to use techniques performed by both clans. He has also inherited your chakra natures. Naruto, you have wind. Hinata has Wind then Earth. That means Sasuke has Wind then earth chakra nature. He is already able to use both types. We've all seen this for ourselves."

"Wait a second Kakashi, does that mean that he can do an earth-style Rasengan, like my wind style Rasen-shuriken? Naruto leaned forward and grinned with excitement. Kakashi waved his hands in front of his face.

"I wouldn't go as far as saying that. Besides, he's not even mastered the rasengan yet. Remember, it took him longer than you because he wanted to be able to use it without summoning a shadow clone."

"Oh. Hey Kakashi." Naruto asked.

"Hmm. What is it? Do you need it explaining again, because I really don't have the…"

"No. I wanted to know something. If Sasuke's chakra levels really are that high, why doesn't he use shadow clones for that. My limit is about two hundred shadow clones. If he really does have 25 times more chakra than me, then he should be able to create 5000 shadow clones. He'd have no problem. He'd have mastered it in a couple of hours, or even less. Using that technique, you showed me where we used shadow clones to train." Kakashi sighed.

'This is gonna be a long day.' "You know about the fatigue you get from releasing tour shadow clones, right?"

"Of course."

"Using two hundred nearly knocked you out. Imagine using five thousand."

"I guess I didn't think of that." Naruto admitted.

"Besides…" Kakashi began. "Even with two hundred shadow clones in pairs, you couldn't develop the Rasen-shuriken. When you started using them in trios, you made a lot more progress. Sasuke's trying to do this without the direct help of shadow clones, even if he uses them as bi-products to help him along the way. He's going to master it the way, Jaraiya did."

"So he's still using the shadow clone training. He's just not putting into pairs. They all have to work alone."

'He finally gets it.' "That's exactly right."

"But with all his chakra, it's not as if he needs to conserve it or anything, he might as well use them."

'I take it back.' Kakashi thought to himself. 'There is no way of explaining this to him. He's too slow.'

"He's been using the Byakugan." Hinata explained. Naruto turned to face her.

"The… Byakugan?" Naruto questioned. Hinata nodded.

"It gives him extreme precision, which allows him to control his chakra flow better than you did. This means that he can learn it faster than Jaraiya. Once he's got the technique down, he just has to remember it, no extra jutsu needed. He can do the same for adding the chakra nature too."

"Are you saying… that he might be able to develop the Rasen-shuriken without shadow clones adding the chakra change in nature and form?" Naruto asked.

"That's what I've been trying to get at." Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke is the only one who can do it. He has the inhuman amounts of stamina and chakra of the Uzumaki and the precision and skill of the Hyuuga. Even without the rasengan, he's Jounin material."

"You… You really think so?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. The only things that you have over him are experience and the nine-tails abilities. Other than that, he has you beat in every aspect." Kakashi pointed out.

"Whoa! Thanks Kakashi. Now I'm sure that he'll be fine. If he really does have that much power inside of him, he's bound to win.

'He still doesn't get it.' Kakashi sighed heavily. "He isn't as powerful as you or Hinata. He just has the potential to be."

"Oh, right, sorry." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Oh, hey. I need to ask. Why are you here? You're not the type to come around just for a friendly chat, Kakashi sensei."

"I'm here on business. Tsunade's got a mission for you both."

"Grandma Tsunade?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"It's about Sasuke." Kakashi explained. Both Hinata and Naruto became more attentive.

* * *

A figure in the distant rooftops looked down on the three. His cloak waved in the wind. His face was shaded from the light and he created a sort of silhouette. He simply stood in the cool breeze that neglected the heat on this summer's day. Analysing and checking over the three, he made slight movements such as moving his arm forward and his head up slightly. This unusual figure in the distance was as clear as day, plain in sight, yet well hidden. Not that it mattered any longer. He had completed the first stage of his task.

"Found ya…"

* * *

Sasuke sneezed, then quickly rubbed his nose and returned to the situation at hand.

'It's him isn't it? It's got to be…" He looked over the dark haired man that stood before him. His skin was pale, his eyes were blood red, and he even had the demeanour of someone who didn't give a care for the situation that they were in. Trapped in some sort of artificial dimension. "Sasuke Uchiha." He said to himself.

"You know who I am?" Uchiha asked.

"How did he know?" Uzumaki said quietly. "I could have sworn that I didn't say his name loud enough for him to hear."

"I can read your lips using the Sharingan." Uchiha explained. Uzumaki hesitated.

'It is him.' "Sasuke Uchiha. Friend and Enemy of the leaf. Only someone like you could be both."

"I have no friends. I have severed those ties. Who are you? Why do you have my name and why do you look so much like Naruto?"

"Because Naruto is my dad." Uzumaki explained.

"Is that right?" Uchiha cocked his head. "Did he send you to take me back to the village?"

"No, that's not why I'm here." Uzumaki tried to explain. "I'm trapped here, just like you. I just want to find out how to get home."

"Back to the leaf village?" Uchiha asked. The other Sasuke simply nodded. "How pathetic. What possible reason is there for going back to that place? All of you leaf shinobi are the same!" He quickly brought one foot forward and made quick gestures with his hands. "Fire style: Fire ball jutsu!" A large fire ball flew towards Uzumaki, who dodged it.

"Hey, what the hell was that for. I'm on your side. We're both prisoners of that organization with the red clouds on their cloaks."

"Red clouds? I thought that the Akatsuki had been defeated. It doesn't matter though." Sasuke prepared for another attack.

"What?! Stop attacking!"

"You are annoying." Sasuke Uchiha stated as he raised his arm into the air. "Chidori stream!" Lightning shot out from his body. It moved in a trail towards Uzumaki, who jumped back in order to get away.

"I see how it is. Multi shadow clone jutsu!" A large cloud formed around Uzumaki. Once it faded away, twenty shadow clones and their master were revealed. The shadow clones scattered and attacked Uchiha from all directions. They were quickly dispatched and Uchiha then made the same hand signs as before and breathed in heavily.

"Fire ball jutsu!" He exclaimed as he spit out a huge fireball.

"Whoa! That's insanely massive!" The fireball was larger than a four story house. "Gotta make this count." Uzumaki charged up his chakra and made the correct stance. "Gentle fist…" The fireball was so close he could feel a burning sensation. "Giant air palm!" He thrust both of his hands forward, creating a large shockwave into the fireball. The air fed the fireball, making it stronger. However… "Fire doesn't flow against the wind." The fireball slowed down and exploded on its own. Uzumaki braced himself and the flames past. What was left was a giant cloud where the fire ball had been. A shadow formed in it. "What!?" Sasuke Uchiha burst out of the cloud and shot towards Uzumaki, blade in hand.

"Chidori blade!" Lightning shot down his sword. He hit the ground where Uzumaki had just dodged from and a shockwave of lightning shot outwards hitting Uzumaki anyway. He hit the ground and rolled over.

"I've got to focus on his lightning. I know I can beat it with my wind chakra. But his fire beats my wind and his lightning is more powerful than my earth style. He was made to fight people like me. My earth style is useless and my wind style can be fought against if he makes me waste my time on fire and only then attacks with lightning. This is bad. Very bad." Sasuke Uzumaki grimaced. Things were not looking up for him. Uchiha prepared to attack once more. "Come on. Think, think. Think like Shikimaru. What would he have done? My air palm thrusts actual wind along with the chakra shockwave, so that's no good. My shadow clones are useless if he can take the out with such speed. There's no way… I've got it!" He took a stance and prepared to fight. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu." The clones appeared and immediately began attacking Uchiha, who dispatched them using a fireball with continued to hit the exact spot where Uzumaki was standing. Uchiha then made the correct hand signs and looked into the mist.

"Chidori!" He shouted as he headed for his opponent. He could see Uzumaki standing in the centre of the mist, preparing an attack.

"Rasengan!" Sasuke Uzumaki clashed with Sasuke Uchiha. His new, imperfect technique being slowly pushed back by Uchiha's mastery of lightning style. Suddenly three more Uzumakis came down from above Sasuke. Each had their own Rasengan.

"You think I'd fall for that?!" Sasuke Uchiha unlocked his jutsu from Uzumaki's and jumped far back from where he could be hit. Another came out at him from behind. This one also utilised the rasengan. Sasuke blocked it with a Chidori. The original Uzumaki emerged from the mist and attacked with another rasengan. Uchiha blocked this in the same way. However, yet another Uzumaki appeared and performed a frontal attack using the rasengan. "You're too slow!" Uchiha jumped back, away from the three Uzumakis, but he felt a hand on his back.

"Gentle fist: Air palm!" Sasuke Uzumaki shouted. Uchiha flew forward, back towards the three. The one who performed the frontal attack disappeared and the other two fused their rasengans together, thrusting it towards Uchiha. "Giant Rasengan!" They both shouted. The rasengan expanded until it was five metres in diameter. It ripped into Sasuke Uchiha and created a massive explosion. The Uzumaki who used the air palm looked on. Shards of wood flew outwards from the blast. "A substitution!" He shouted. Uchiha grabbed him by the neck and the two shadow cloned who performed the giant rasengan disappeared.

"How pathetic." Uchiha said as he raised his sword. "Chidori blade!" The sword cut right through Uzumaki, creating a cloud as the shadow clone disappeared. "You are becoming a nuisance!" He stated. Uzumaki stepped out ten metres behind him.

"I could see your every move. Using the mist that your fireball created, I activated my Byakugan without you realizing. Then I simply stayed out of your way and let you play with my shadow clones. I can tell that I have way more chakra than you. All I have to do is play cat and mouse with you until one of us runs out of chakra, and that won't be me."

"In that case. I better finish this quickly." Uchiha's eyes changed. A strange pattern formed on them. Uzumaki could almost feel his body weaken as this happened.

'This guy is powerful, but I can't lose out to him. I have to find out what's going on here and warn the leaf. Damn it! What do they want with me?! What do they want with Roxas?!"

"AMATERASU!"

* * *

"AAACHUUUU!" Roxas sneezed loudly. "Stupid cold!"

* * *

**So I got a guest review asking about the NaruHina stuff. Well Sasuke Uzumaki is sort of the forefront for that. However, Naruto and Hinata will become more solid characters as the story develops. This chapter was a little break away from Roxas' story, so I hope you didn't mind the change. I know it's a little short for the three weeks that you've been waiting, but I did say that I was taking a break for a bit (even though I wrote this chapter in one go). I also hope that you liked the extra info I gave on Sasuke. I'm not actually sure what chakra nature Hinata is but I read somewhere (most likely not reliable) that she was wind then earth so I'm just gonna go with it for the sake of the story. R&R. I'll get back to the Roxas stuff in the next chapter (unless you want otherwise).**


	13. The process begins!

**Chapter 13: The process begins!**

"Damn!" Roxas rubbed his cheek. 'This guy is way outta my league!' Roxas stood in the physical education suite for his school. Near the centre of the hall at the centre of it, he faced an unusual opponent who had never seen before. Clenching his struggle bat, Roxas leapt forward for another attack. But before he knew it, he was off his feet once more. Crashing into the ground hurt. It wasn't just his body that took damage though; his pride was also hurt. Roxas had lost a struggle match before, but he had never lost so easily. This guy was like lightning. He moved way too fast for the average man of his age. He looked in his late twenties or older, so good skill was expected. However, Roxas had never seen someone move with such skill or speed.

"That's enough guys!" The P.E instructor announced. "I've never seen someone fight so well before!" He exclaimed as he made his way over to the dark haired man, who turned to face him. "Where did you train, and where did you get all that energy from?" The man smoothed back his hair and straightened out his clothes.

"Where did I train? Somewhere far away. As for my energy; that's thanks to…" He lifted his head up higher. "THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Rock Lee threw a fist into the air.

"Oh, well if you say so." The instructor scratched his head. "With that skill, you'd give me a run for my money!" He smiled. Rock Lee shook his hand. "Thanks for taking over the lesson; I think we all learned something from you."

"Oh, what is that?" Lee asked. "Is it that we must all use the power of youth to find our way in this dark day and age!?" He struck a heroic pose.

"No. It's that…." The instructor breathed in heavily. "Everyone needs to pick up the pace!" His voice boomed across the entire suite. Everyone (including Lee) was suddenly shocked by this. "I expect you all to be able to be at least 50% better next week." The instructor crossed his arms.

"Awww come on! Seriously! That's impossible!" The class began to whine.

"No excuses. Just train and get stronger. That is all!"

"Aww maaan! No way!" The class mumbled as they left the suite. Roxas put away the struggle bat and walked over to Lee.

"Hey. Wanna help us train. You're pretty strong." It hurt to say it, but if he had any hope of surpassing this guy, Roxas had to train with someone of his calibre.

"Very well!" Lee clenched his fists. "I will teach you the power of youth!"

"I'll wait for you in the field." Roxas said as he walked off.

"This is exciting. One more will know the fire of the leaf! Let the training begi…" Rock Lee was interrupted.

"Hey, before you leave." The instructor said. "Can I ask you something?"

"What would you like to know?"

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"No. I am from the leaf village."

Let me guess. You can't get back can you?"

"No I cannot. How did you know?"

"I can't get back to where I'm from either." The instructor moved towards the far wall and sighed. "And now I'm stuck being a lousy instructor. Not what I'd imagined doing when I got here, but I gotta eat." He picked up the katanas that were leaning against the wall.

"Oh, I see. Do all of those swords belong to you?"

"Yeah, they do. Why?"

"You must break a lot of them then. I can't see any other reason to constantly carry around three swords at once."

* * *

"Ugh. What's taking his so long!?" Roxas tapped his foot impatiently. After a short whiles wait. Rock Lee appeared out of the crowed that covered the school campus. "Finally. I've been waiting for a while now. It's all good though, I've had to wait longer before."

"I am glad that you have so much spirit!" Rock Lee explained. "Even after being beaten by me, you still want to train to get stronger. So that you can utilise the power of youth in order to protect your friends!" Lee began to tear up.

"Are… Are you crying?" Roxas asked, almost putting a hand forward to comfort the odd man.

"It is so refreshing to see the next generation so full of vigour!" Lee breathed in through his nose and held in the tears. "I am honoured to be your sensei!"

"My… Sensei?" Roxas craned his head. 'Is this the same guy as before? He seems a lot more… cry-baby like.'

"Let us begin the…"

"Oh, hey Roxas!" A familiar, feminine voice rang out. Roxas turned to face Olette. The sun shone over her like a benevolent ray of light bathing a beautiful angel. Roxas legs began turning to jelly and he fell into an almost trance like state. "Roxas." She tugged on his arm and he immediately shook his head and regained full consciousness. "I need to talk to you!"

"Ok. What is it?"

"I can't say right now. Just follow me." She dragged him off campus."

"Wait there Lee! I'll be back soon!" His voice faded as he disappeared into the distance.

"Very well! I will not move a muscle until you are back. I give you my word!" He gave the blank spot where Roxas was standing a thumbs up.

* * *

Olette dragged Roxas into the usual spot and shoved him onto the couch with full force (which is a lot of force). Roxas squirmed on the couch until he was comfortable and Olette sat down beside him. She placed her head in her hands and her elbows on her legs. Sighing heavily, she began to speak…

"Roxas, I've been thinking. What are we going to tell Hayner and Pence? About us." She made sure he understood the topic of the matter.

"Why can't we just tell them that we're dating? I'm sure they won't mind."

"It's not that they won't mind. The group won't ever be the same anymore. I know that. We've always been equals in the group. Everyone was friends with everyone, nothing more, nothing less. But now… Now it's different. I know that it's pretty early on in the relationship. We've hardly known that the other was into us until recently. But I know that this isn't just some simple crush, or a simple high school relationship. It means a lot more too me and I know that it's the same for you. Things are going to change Roxas. I'm scared of change." She placed her hand over his and he held it. "When things start to change, our group will move apart and I don't want that to happen."

"It's going to be fine."

"Can you promise me that? Because even Hayner realises that this group is not going to last forever. With us like this…" She squeezed his hand. "… The group will dissolve even sooner. I want to make the most out of our friendships. So can we keep this a secret… until we find a good time to break the news to them?" Olette stared deep into Roxas' eyes. Her emerald stare beckoned obedience. Roxas could not resist agreeing with her completely, no matter how he felt about this.

"I guess it would kinda suck if our gang split up. So we'll keep this between us until both we and the others are ready for it to come out." Roxas reassured her. Olette cracked a smile.

"I'm glad I can count on someone like you, Roxas." She cocked her head in the usual fashion.

"Like me? You should know by know that there is no one like me."

"Oh? Is that right? I would say that you and Hayner are pretty simi…"

"AAACHOOO!" A sneeze was heard from outside.

"What was that!?" Olette was almost shocked by the sudden noise, echoing from outside. Roxas lifted the piece of cloth that hung at the entrance and scanned the area. He couldn't see anyone. The path was completely deserted.

"No one is there. It must have been the wind or something." Roxas returned to the couch.

"Oh, I see." Olette narrowed her eyes and rested her head upon Roxas' shoulder. "I can tell, things are going to change pretty soon. Take my word for it."

"I don't know whether to believe you. All I know that has changed is how happy I am now that I've finally got you."

"Got me? Like an item!?"

"No, no that's not what I meant!" Roxas panicked.

"I know, I know!" Olette giggled. "I'm just playing with ya. You mean like you've got my heart and I've got yours." She curled an arm around Roxas' right arm.

"My heart." Roxas said under his breath. He moved his left hand towards his chest. 'I don't have a heart to give, I'm afraid.' Roxas remembered that he is a nobody. He isn't even supposed to exist. "Yeah." He said almost silently.

*THUMP THUMP* Roxas quickly moved his hand away from his chest and his body jolted in shock. Olette felt the jolt and immediately came to Roxas' attention.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Roxas paused as he recollected himself.

"N…Nothing." He replied. Olette returned to resting on his shoulder.

"Well… If you say so." She closed her eyes and smiled.

'Was that my heart beat?' Roxas thought to himself. 'Of course, I've felt it before, when Olette was around. But I guess I didn't really notice because I forgot that I wasn't supposed to have one!' He gulped. 'How is this possible?!'

* * *

Hayner leaned back on a wall and stared down at the ground. His gaze then moved to the sky.

"I guess it would kinda suck if our gang split up. So we'll keep this between us until both we and the others are ready for it to come out." A male voice said from inside the back alley. Hayner sighed.

"You idiots. You think I didn't know." His voice was calm and his face plain. Hayner's brown eyes glistened in the light of the setting sun. Suddenly he felt a sniffle. It grew and grew until it was insanely irritating. He could no longer hold it in.

"AAACHOOO!" Hayner sneezed.

"What was that!?" a feminine voice squealed from inside.

'Oh crap!' Hayner rubbed his nose and ran towards the station as fast as his legs would take him. As he fled, Hayner thought about the topic of which Roxas and Olette were discussing. "Damn it Roxas, You idiot. You should have just told me!"

* * *

Roxas made his way home. The hours of school had passed since the time that he had finally decided to leave the back alley known as 'the usual place'. Walking along the crowded streets, he began to summarise the day's events in his head. A cool breeze struck him, causing him to shiver. Roxas looked at the sky above. A beautiful azure ocean slowly being swallowed by orange. He felt like this was almost symbolic. Roxas took his orb out of his pocket and stared at it. It shone a beautiful blue as the light refracted inside of it.

'Olette's was orange wasn't it?' Roxas pondered over this thought. 'Is it me or is she beginning to take control of the relationship?' He stared at the orange sky that was moving across his vision, slowly but surely. 'Oh wait, I forgot to take something into account.' He shoved the orb back into his pocket. 'Olette's always liked to be at least a little controlling, even though she does act pretty recessive sometimes. I guess it's just one of those things…' He reached to door of his house and placed a hand on the door handle. Staring at his hand for a moment, he realised that he couldn't open the door. It wasn't locked or barred from the other side. Roxas simply lacked the reason to open it. He took his hand away from the door handle. "Maybe I'll go to the park for a bit." He said as he turned away from his original destination. Roxas walked for a long while before he finally reached the park. He sought comfort under the grand tree that stood at the hilltop and decided to rest there for a bit, looking up at the ever changing sky. "I guess things really are going to change. I hadn't thought about it before, but now that I am…" He paused and took a deep breath in. More in order to give himself time to think than to replenish his supply of oxygen. "… It kinda sucks. I mean I'm happy about being with Olette and all. And don't get me wrong, I'm really happy about that." Roxas said as if he was speaking to someone else. "It's just… I'm as afraid about our group splitting up as she is."

"I know what you mean." A voice exclaimed from the other side of the tree. Roxas jumped up instantly. The voice sounded familiar. However, he wasn't paying much attention at the time, so that's all Roxas knew.

'Damn it. I hope that wasn't Hayner!' "Who's there?!" Roxas asked in a demanding voice. There was a momentary pause.

"My friends call me Riptide, got it memorised?" The man said.

'Thank god' "Riptide?"

"It's just a nickname."

"Oh, I see. What's your real name?" Roxas asked as he sat back down on his side of the tree.

"Not saying."

"Hey, that's not funny. It's just a name."

"Hey look kid, when it's none of your business, it's exactly that."

"Fine." Roxas frowned. 'What's up with this guy? I feel like I've heard his voice before.' "Hey, what did you mean by 'I know what you mean'?"

"Oh that. Yeah, I was just sayin' that I've lost a friend before. He grew bored of my group and left just like that. It was a real kick in the gut."

"I can understand. It sucks that things have to change. I'm sure he had his reasons though."

"Maybe… But I guess those memories don't even belong to me. After all, I shouldn't even be here."

"What do you mean by memories that don't belong to you? And where shouldn't you be? The park?"

"No… Just here. Existing. You should know what I mean."

"You're… You're a nobody?"

"Bingo."

"I didn't think I'd run into another one."

"Well I guess we were different there. I know a good few."

"Are they in your gang?"

"I guess you could put it that way."

'This guy… Who is he?' Roxas thought hard over this. 'Wait, I know whose voice that is!' Roxas immediately stood up and peered around the tree. "Is that you Ax…" There was nothing but an empty spot where the man had been. "That was weird." Roxas looked over the spot under the tree, then the park. "Weird." He repeated almost silently.

* * *

"You're right Roxas." Riptide stood on top of a rooftop that looked over the park. "Change does suck, but we're all subject to it. And there is nothing that you or I can do about it. Besides, this close to the event and there's no stopping the process. I wish I could join you. I wish that I could have a heart. I wish that I could exist."

* * *

"I shouldn't even be here. Existing." Those words rung in Roxas' head. 'I don't get it. Has Axel come back to find me? And that group he mentioned. Could Organization XIII have been reformed?' Roxas grimaced. "Damn it." 'Too many things are happening at once, I can't handle it.' He stomped back towards his house. 'And why did he leave this at the park. Did he take it from the fountain?' Roxas lifted up the pendant. It was scorched black. "I can't let any of the others get involved in this. I'll have to figure out what's going on by myself and then get back to making sure everything turns out fine in my regular life." He clenched the pendant in his fist. "It's pretty bad timing, but everything will turn out for the better! I know it!"

* * *

Olette sat at her desk, her head leaning on one of her hands, using it as a support. Looking down at the maths paper, she was almost bored to tears. This was not normal for Olette, something was on her mind. It was the gang. She has been so worried about how Hayner and Pence will take the news that she has hardly gotten any sleep. Olette would very much like things to be simple and for the group to stay the same, even with Roxas and Olette being in love. Olette stopped mid thought about this subject upon realizing that she had just written the word 'love' twelve times on her maths paper. Instantly scribbling it out with pen, she continued on her thought process.

'I know that if it came to a choice, I'd choose Roxas over the group. After all I do love him…" She smiled. "… Even though it is a little bit early in my age and the relationship than I would have expected to be. Plus the gang won't last forever, but this has the potential to…" Olette sighed heavily. "But I don't want it to come to that." She said out loud in a frustrated voice. Olette frowned. "Ahhh, it's way too hot in here. She swung open her large window that was over to her right and returned to the desk. After another few minutes she began scribbling over her words again. This time she wrote the word 'Roxas' four times. "I can't think straight. In an ideal world I wouldn't have to deal with all of this…"

"Y'know there might actually be an ideal world out there." A voice said calmly. Olette stood up and turned her head to face the window. A cloaked man was sitting in the frame with one leg stood on the frame and one dangling into her room. He used a hand to hold on to the top of the frame and the other to gesture. The man wore a black hooded cloak with a zip that ran down the middle. It was done all the way to the top, allowing the hood to completely cover the man's face but the bottom part was opened up for the manoeuvrability of the legs. The cloak was also notably covered in red clouds.

"Who are you and why are you in my window?"

"You care about Roxas, right?" The man said forwardly.

"Well… Y-yes. He is one of my best fr…"

"He's your boyfriend; don't try to cover it up. I know all about the two of you."

"Please don't tell anyone!" Olette exclaimed, almost forgetting that the man was sort of breaking into her house. "I haven't found the right time to come out clean yet."

"That's not going to matter. Roxas is going into a sort of phase in this process and it's really going to affect all of your friends. Not in a good way either."

"Process? What do you mean?"

"Roxas is changing. Soon he's going to be unrecognisable. It's this… thing that's happening to him. It's kinda your fault too."

"My fault!? How is anything that Roxas is going through my fault?" Olette asked.

"ugh… You're the one that gave him a heart after all. It wouldn't be possible without you."

"Roxas has always had a heart. You need it to survive, duh. So just tell me what the earth you are talking about and get out of my window."

'This is going to take a while.' "Roxas is going through some phases and I need you to… help him along. Ease the way for him. I'll explain it in full if you give me the chance. But you might not believe me."

"Try me." Olette challenged him.

'Now we're getting somewhere.' Riptide thought to himself.

"So why do you care so much about Roxas anyway? Are you an old friend of his?"

'Going off topic already!' "Yeah I guess you could say that. Look, Roxas is going through a tough stage and I really need you to help him out. So just let me explain." Olette remained silent. "There are these things called heartless. What happens for them to come about is…"

* * *

Roxas flung himself onto his bed and put his hands behind his head. "What a confusing day. Axel what could you be up to? And why come back?" Roxas breathed in and out heavily. "And here I was thinking that things couldn't get any more complicated than they already were." Roxas rolled and squirmed on his bed. "It really bugs me." He frowned a deep frown and then returned his expression to normal. "And there's something else that's bugging me. I feel… like I'm forgetting something."

* * *

It was now night time and a cool breeze blanketed the field. Lee stood there and sighed. "He is not coming back, is he?"

* * *

**Poor Lee :( Any way, I'm once again sorry for the late update. It could not be avoided however (unless I played less on the xbox and freed up what time I have that isn't to do with college). On another note, yeah complicated isn't it. i hope you guys are still following what's going on (with the nobody true forms, crucibles, the ark, the citadel, the tear, the process and what's happening to Roxas and why Olette is needed to help things along, the angel wing and other such trivia). Pfft, I'm sure you can handle it. After all, some of you have played kingdom hearts and I don't even understand the full scope of the plot for that. I really want to get into the process and more on the TrueAkatsuki. I know you probably want this also. Don't worry, the TrueAkatsuki stuff is coming soon, just have patience (which I know you have if you can deal with my delays). R&R and I'll be back with the next chapter (hopefully) next week.  
P.S How long does it normally take for fanfic writers to bring out chapters of this length. I just want to know if I'm taking too long or not. Goodbye forever (until the next chapter, of course).**


	14. Imbeciles and rejection

**Chapter 14: Imbeciles and rejection**

"Mr Zero, it's nice to finally speak with you. Perhaps next time we'll meet in person, hmm?"

"Soon Mr One, soon. How did your mission go?"

"Very well. I've already tracked down THAT specific item you mentioned earlier."

"Your mission was to find the nine tail Jinchuriki, not the…"

"Mr Two and Miss C have already located him. The shinobi known as Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yes, you told me about him." Mr Zero spoke in a gruff business like voice. Slicking his hair back, Mr Zero continued to speak. "That's why I tasked you with his capture. You're the only one of us who knows him."

"I understand how you must be annoyed, but trust me. It's better if Miss B and I stay out of this." Mr One spoke in a strange drawn out, relaxed voice. You know how productive he can be when he wants to."

"Fine. Do it your way. All I ask for is results. If you've found it then bring it to me."

"It will be my pleasure."

*CZZZZZZZZZZZ* The hologram of Mr One disappeared with static and the holo-pad turned off. Mr Zero slicked back his hair once more and lit up a cigar. Upon sticking it in his mouth he sighed.

"What a bother. Why do I have to deal with these imbeciles? I make a bet that Breeze doesn't have to deal with any of the sort."

* * *

"Aaaachooo!" Tobi sneezed. "Hey, hey Breeze? What's this thingy do?" Tobi pointed at the large black screen.

"It is a monitor. I can use it do precisely that. If I need to check up on something or someone, I can use it to instantly find the information that I need."

"Oooh! Sounds neat! Can Tobi use it?"

"No."

"Awwww! Why not!"

"Shut up!" Deidara shouted. "Tobi, do you have a death warrant? You weren't hired to play around with all of the tech."

"But…" Tobi tried to reply.

"I'm not being teamed up with you for a second time just to get annoyed by you again!"

"Tobi thinks that Antlers needs to fix his grammar!"

"There is nothing wrong with my grammar! And stop calling me Antlers, my codename is Atlas. Besides we can use our actual names when we're in the Citadel!"

"Enough!" Breeze stood up. "The Citadel is not a place for childish bickering!" Both Tobi and Deidara fell silent. After a short pause, Breeze sat back down in his throne and looked around the room. The monitor room was bland. A large stone room with pillars at the sides and a monitor at the back, which the throne faced. "Mr Zero and the rest of his organization could already be making their move on one of the artefacts needed to power the ark. We cannot allow him to succeed. Deidara…"

"Yes."

"You no longer have to watch over Roxas. That task has been given to another. The process will go much more swiftly when Roxas gets to… Reminisce."

"I understand."

"Your job is now to intercept one of Mr Zero's agents before he makes his move."

"Done. C'mon Tobi, we've got work to do."

"Awwww! But we only just got here Deidara Senpai!" Tobi exclaimed.

"Just shut up and come along!"

"Fine, but we have to stop at a dumpling shop on the way!"

"We haven't got time!"

"Deidara, I'm ashamed of you. You must always have time for dumplings!"

"Tobi, you're getting on my nerves!" Deidara shouted. Breeze craned his head around the corner of his throne in order to watch them leave.

'What imbeciles.' He thought to himself.

* * *

Roxas made his way towards the usual spot, where his gang hangs out. Everything felt different now. After all, a lot has happened in the previous weeks. New people and old friends have shown up. The sky has begun to turn purple for some reason and most importantly… Roxas put a hand to his chest.

*Thump thump, thump thump.* Roxas felt strange feeling the beat of his newfound heart. Nobodies do not have hearts as they are what is left after the original owner of the body, along with his/her heart, becomes a heartless. Due to his inexperience with its constant thumping, Roxas felt a little ill. It was making him feel sick, the same kind of sick that you get if you're in a car that's been travelling along a very long and bumpy road. He stopped walking for a second and put his right hand out onto the nearest wall. He bent over and cringed. It was almost painful to have a heart beating away inside his body. In hopes that he would get used to its beating, Roxas pushed on to the usual spot, trying to keep his mind off his heart. However, it wasn't just the fact that he wasn't used to the heart that made him feel sick…

* * *

"_His body is going to attempt to reject it." Riptide swung his arm backwards and forwards in a playful manner. "I don't know any of the sciency stuff and I can't even begin to imagine how my colleague worked it out… but it's a fact. Nobodies aren't supposed to have hearts. They simply exist because the form left after a heartless transformation begins to animate of its own accord. We can't survive with a heart so our bodies reject them unless it's that of the original owner."_

"_I'm not sure I believe you." Olette said. "This all sounds way too farfetched. Are you sure that you don't need to see a shrink or something?"_

"_I'm sure! Look, do you want to help Roxas or not?"_

Those words rang in Olette's head. Of course she wanted to help Roxas, but she could have never believed a mysterious man who broke into her house. At least she wouldn't have if he hadn't shown her himself. All she could be certain of is that Roxas was going through some tough times and she has to be there for him. She nodded.

"Then I'll do just that." She proclaimed.

"Do what?" Hayner asked. Olette turned to face him.

"Huh?"

"Oh, spacing out as usual, I see." Hayner grinned.

"I'm not spacing out, I'm just thinking about something."

"Oh. Well spill it."

"Wha?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"None of your business."

"Why not."

"Because it isn't."

"That's not a very good answer!" Hayner stated. Pence was just sitting at his spot, eating potato chips and watching the two argue. Their faces were getting ever closer with each comment.

"Uh guys…" He said.

"Not now!" Hayner stuck his hand out. "I think I'm going to need a better answer than that."

"Who says I'm going to give you one?!" Olette exclaimed.

"Uh… Guys…"

"Shh." Olette put her finger to his lips.

"I say so!" Hayner said.

"No one cares about what you say should happen!" Olette explained.

"Oh yeah, then why I'm I this gang's leader?"

"You are not our…"

"GUYS!" Pence shouted.

"WHAT!" The two shouted. They turned their heads to face him and their cheeks rubbed together. Pence lifted his arm and pointed towards the entrance. Hayner and Olette drew their heads back and stared at the opening. Roxas stood there, his arm slung around Kabuto's neck. He didn't look good.

"Roxas!" Olette immediately took him from Kabuto and rested him on the couch. Roxas face was red and his eyelids were a near purple colour. Both of his eyes looked blood shot and apart from the redness he was extremely pale. He breathed irregularly in short inhales and exhales of different lengths. Olette put her palm on his forehead. "He's burning up." She said. Kabuto gently pushed her to the side and grabbed Roxas' head and trousers. He then placed the boy in a position where he was lying on his back.

"I found him like this on my way to the library. He was crouching down by a wall and holding his chest." Kabuto explained.

"Hey, what's wrong with Roxas?" Hayner asked. He looked very surprised at the state his friend was in.

"You're a doctor right, do you know what's up with him?" Pence asked.

"First off…" Kabuto began. The others listened in closely. "I'm not a doctor." The three proceeded to sweat drop. "But I can tell what it is from the symptoms. It seems like he's having trouble with his heart." Kabuto checked Roxas' pulse. "He should be fine, but it's something that needs to be looked on. We should probably get him to a hospital. A local practitioner just won't do. After all, I'm smarter than most of those guys." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose so that light reflected off the lenses.

"No one cares how smart you are!" Olette exclaimed. "If we need to get him to a hospital then we should get him to a hospital." She pushed Kabuto out of the way.

"Wow now. Hold your horses, it's nothing critical. I just think he needs to be checked up on by a professional. We have as much time as we need."

"But…"

"It's fine." Roxas said faintly. Everyone's gaze turned to him. "The pain is almost gone now. I just feel a little weird is all…" His eyes were barely open. He felt like he was about to fall asleep. Hayner stared at him then turned to face Kabuto. "So he has heart problems?"

"Yeah, looks that way." Kabuto said. It looks like it's been getting progressively worse. It probably only started to make an impact yesterday. It's pretty sudden, these things." Kabuto smiled. "He'll be fine in no time though." Hayner breathed out heavily.

"Man, you had me there. I thought he had a heart attack or something!" Hayner started to laugh. "I guess I was just paranoid." Suddenly, he felt a full force punch smack into his face and he flew backwards.

"This isn't anything to laugh about!" Olette shouted. She turned back to Roxas. He had fallen asleep. 'It's really happening isn't it? All those things that man told me. They must have been true. If so, then I better do as he said.'

"What's gotten into her?" Pence asked Hayner.

"I dunno." Hayner replied quietly. "She's a complete phycho."

"I can hear you, y'know!" Olette turned around and pointed at the two boys. Her eyes were near satanic. It sent shivers down their spines.

* * *

Hayner made his way home with Pence at his side. The two walked casually as they made conversation out of the day's events. Not that it was an eventful day other than Roxas' heart problems.

"Hey, Pence, you think that Roxas' gonna be ok?" Hayner asked. He put his hands behind his head and looked up at the beaming sun.

"Yeah, he's going to pull through. Besides, didn't Kabuto say that it wasn't anything serious?"

"He did, didn't he?"

"I guess you really are paranoid."

"Yeah. I'm just worried about him. Roxas is the strongest one of us. I didn't expect him to be so suddenly ill. I mean Roxas is always…"

"Woah, woah, woah! Roxas has been under the weather a lot. We all get sick…" Pence stepped in front of his friend. "This is no different. Roxas'll be back to normal in no time." Pence smiled. Hayner took his hands from behind his head and crossed them.

"Roxas?" Hayner began walking again. "Since when has he ever been normal?" The distance between Hayner and Pence grew.

"What do you mean by that?" Pence asked. After a little pause, he ran towards his friend. "Hey, wait for me!"

'Damn it Roxas. What's up with you lately?' Hayner stuck his hands back behind his head. 'First you start dating Olette, and then you pull this on us. You're really starting to freak me out.' He scrunched his face up.

"Why are you looking like that?" Pence asked. Hayner instantly straightened out his face as much as he could.

"Looking like what?" Hayner asked.

"You were making a sort of funny face." Pence gestured with his hands. "Like you were thinking really hard about something."

"You're losing it." Hayner replied almost instantly. Pence turned to face the path before them.

"Whatever. Let's just wait 'til the morning to see if Roxas gets better. We can't have him getting sick before the first exam."

"Are you kidding me? Olette's the one who'd hate to miss an exam."

"She'd never miss an exam. If she had to, she would come into the exam half-dead."

* * *

"Aaaachooo!" Olette sneezed. Roxas slowly turned his head to face her. He was still lying on the couch.

"Did you say something?" Roxas asked in a faint, slurred voice. He sounded like he had just woken up (which he had).

"No." Olette replied as she rubbed her nose. "Just some over used joke."

"Oh." Roxas said as he turned his head back to face upwards. He kept his gaze on Olette though. "If you say so." Olette placed a hand on his chest and looked into his eyes. Roxas was entranced by her beautiful emerald eyes.

"You're sick." Olette said.

"You don't… say." Roxas tried to joke about it. However, he had hardly any energy left to speak as it was. He cracked a smile and Olette smiled back. "I thought that I was supposed to go to see a doctor." He said.

"No, you're fine. Kabuto said so himself." Olette looked at the entrance to the back alley. Kabuto had left when Hayner and Pence did. "You just need to rest a bit." She stroked his head. Roxas closed his eyes. He felt like a million butterflies were lifting him up. He could almost ignore the pain caused by his heart. Just before he fell asleep once more, Roxas smiled a wide smile. Olette continued to stroke his hair for a few minutes. All was silent. Silent and peaceful. Olette's mind however… was chaos. Having to take on such a responsibility on a whim that what the man said was true. Actually, it was less of a whim and more of a 'seeing is believing moment.' "That man, he… He's like you." Olette looked down at the sleeping Roxas. He looked so peaceful. "I'll look after you. It doesn't matter if you're a nobody or a human. You are Roxas. You are the one I care about most."

* * *

"Awwww, how sweet!" Archangel swayed backwards and forwards. "So she's really the one who gave him the heart?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Riptide leaned back on a wall. "He got his heart because he's finally split off from Sora. He's now on the verge of becoming a human, but he can't."

"Because he's a nobody?"

"Yeah."

"So how come we can't have hearts?"

"It's… complicated." Riptide kicked off the wall.

"Well I don't think that it's fair!" Archangel grabbed his arm. Riptide turned to face towards her. They were both wearing their hoods up. "I know Roxas is a special case. But we're connected to him. I can feel it. So why does this girl get to go through the process with him?"

"She doesn't. Olette just helps him through. Because she has the most connection to his heart, she is the one most suitable to help him out." Riptide said. Archangel cocked her head, showing her lack of knowledge on the subject.

"Huh?" She moved her head closer to Riptide. "Wha?" Riptide shoved her hand off his arm.

"Do you even know what the process is?" He asked. Archangel shook her head. "I see." Riptide sighed. "Well it's a little too complicated to explain, so I'll give you a brief explanation. Roxas got a heart and it's made up of the connections he has made without Sora…" Archangel nodded and listened on. "Of all those connections, Olette is the strongest. We need her to guide his heart and make sure it stays intact. We need the tear to bring out his light and we gotta bring up some past connections to help connect his new heart to his body which is used to a past as a nobody, where he had different connections to his new ones. You got that all memorized." Riptide tapped his head.

"So that's where we come in?"

"Exactly. You catch on fast." Riptide patted her head and she in turn patted his hand away.

"So, after all of that… what happens to Roxas? And more importantly, what will happen to us? I don't even know how were supposed to reconnect with him."

"Reconnect? We're always connected to him, though not directly as we aren't actually…" Riptide stopped mid-sentence to think about something. C'mon, we've got work to do.

"Work? I thought that I was finally going to the citadel."

"No. We have to encourage to tear." Riptide began to walk but stopped and turned his head. "Oh, by the way… Atlas has gone to the other universe with Reaver, so you're my new partner."

"It's about time. I was fed up of working with Greif. You're the only one who I ever get anything done with."

"Yeah, I know. Greif is… a little weird. I don't really trust him." Riptide began to walk again. Archangel was in tail. "Probably why he's with Wolf now. Pretty much everyone has changed partners except for Breeze and Phantom."

"I've never actually heard Phantom talk." Archangel admitted.

"Neither have I. Breeze sure does know how to pick 'em."

* * *

Roxas made his way home, feeling much healthier than before. Olette had already left for home and it was getting late.

"How weird. I didn't think that it'd be that bad. I guess that it's going to take a while before I get used to this." He strided in wide paces of differing lengths. "Olette sure was nice to take care of me like that. I can't believe that I was such a cry-baby. Everything was fine; I was just under the weather." Roxas looked up at the sky and smiled. The orange was once again swallowing the Azure sky. Both sides looked beautiful and especially so where the colours met. "I don't think I'd mind that much if Olette took charge. After all, she does know best. Plus I kinda like being in her care." Roxas smiled. Suddenly this smile turned into a grimace. Roxas fell to his knees and clutched his chest. "Gah!" The pain was even more intense than before. He breathed heavily and tried to ignore the pain, but it was too hard. A sharp tingling sensation shot throughout his body as the pain in his chest intensified. Roxas heart was being rejected.

* * *

**Little later than I wanted to bring it out. Oh well. So are you beginning to understand things, or have you been mindfudged (I say fudge to avoid swearing). You're following... good. So here's a list of all the noted members so far (with their new partners): Breeze (the leader) and Phantom, Altlas and Reaver, Riptide and Archangel, Wolf and Greif. Take a wild guess who each of them are (plus Mr.0 through 5 and Miss A through F). There may be more baddie characters in future but I think that I'll get on with the story first. If you have any questions about something you don't understand, just ask. I'd be pleased to answer. See you in the next chapter. Sayunara!**


	15. Mr-Two and Miss-C

**Chapter 15: Mr-Two and Miss-C**

"Just who the hell are you?!" Naruto shouted as he wiped the blood from his lower lip. The man that stood before him stood tall with a demeanor that suggested an almost royal background. His clothes were very fancy looking considering the fact that they didn't even cover his chest. It was much like an open kimono, but as a cloak embroidered with patterns of an unusual sort. Although this tall, profound figure seemed to come from a high class background, he was also very unusual looking. His fingers were almost twice the length of normal fingers and he carried around a weird looking staff which seemed to be the source of his power; or at least what he uses to channel it.

"You may call me Mr-Two." The man said. "And I'm here to take away that power of yours." He pointed his long spiny finger at Naruto's chest.

"I couldn't give a damn about why you're here!" Naruto swung his arm back. "If you're looking for a fight… well, you got one." He punched his palm.

"How very arrogant." Mr-Two said in an annoyed voice. "You will do well to remember who you are dealing with."

"Oh yeah! Naruto formed a cross shape with his fingers. Well you better eat your words cause no matter who you are… a guy like me could ever lose to a guy like you! Shadow clone jutsu!" Ten shadow clones appeared at once. They surrounded Mr-Two and attempted to jump him.

"Impudent." Mr-Two tapped his staff on the ground and ice quickly rose from the ground and froze all ten clones. The ice then shattered, a puff of smoke appearing afterwards. "It would seem that this dog is all bark and no bite." Mr-Two slicked back his long blue hair and raised a hand.

"So you use ice style, huh? That must mean you've got water and wind chakra nature. I've got you down." Naruto summoned up twenty more shadow clones, one of which stayed by his side. The other nineteen all ran towards Mr-Two at full pelt.

"How infuriating." Mr-Two waved his hand down and a wave of water came crashing down on the clones wiping them all out.

"Just as I thought." Naruto said to himself. Mr-Two looked at the spot where Naruto had been. He was now gone. "Rasengan!" Naruto flew down from above and thrust his hand forward in order to take him down with his rasengan.

"Hmm." Mr-Two raised a hand and shot out a fireball which scorched Naruto and was powerful enough to deflect the rasengan. Naruto flew backwards and hit the ground.

'Fire style? This guy's got three chakra styles! No, I bet he has all of them. It's nothing I haven't seen before.' Naruto prepared to fight once more. "Ok, it's time to get serious!"

"Oh, is that so? Then show me how well you fare against me." Mr-Two raised his staff and pointed it at Naruto. "Thundega!" A giant bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the spot that Naruto had just dodged from. It left a small crater.

"This guy's packing some real firepower. But I don't think he's any good in close combat. I gotta get close to him, but that's tough whilst he's shooting all kinds of jutsu at me." Naruto looked over his opponent. "I got it." He created a shadow clone and had it run away.

"What are you playing at, boy?" Mr-Two asked.

"You just wait and find out!" Naruto balled his right hand into a fist. He then ran towards his opponent, dodging all of the fireballs that were shot. When Naruto got close enough to touch , the man created a wall of ice that created a barrier between the two. Naruto kicked off this ice wall and landed ten metred back. Creating another two shadow clones. Naruto performed the rasengan on this wall and let a clone use him as a step to jump towards . However, simply blew this away with another Thundega. Naruto made his way back to his original spot and reviewed the situation. Everything was going perfectly.

"Just come quietly and make this easier for the both of us." Mr-Two offered.

"Get real!" Naruto waved his hand back, then brought it before his face and balled it into a fist. "You're toast." And with that, Naruto's previous clone (the one that ran off) finished gathering natural energy and returned to Naruto. Suddenly, a burst of energy flung out from Naruto and he glared at with his toad eyes. "Let's see how you deal with my sage jutsu." Naruto crossed his fingers once more. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" In an instant, one hundred clones appeared and all attacked Mr-Two at once. He cleanly took out many of the clones in succession, but was soon becoming overwhelmed. 'This is my chance!' Naruto thought to himself. He ran at Mr-Two with incredible speed. "Rasengan!" He thrust his hand forward and just managed to create a wall of ice to block the attack. Jumping back, Mr-Two prepared for Naruto to strike again. But then three other clones pounced on his from behind and each tried to hit him with their rasengan. Mr-Two dealt with them quickly. Another clone came from out of no-where and attacked him. Mr-Two shot a fire ball, expecting to see a puff of steam. However, this Naruto took the hit and kept going.

"I don't get it. The original Naruto has toad eyes. This one is just a clone, how can it…"

"RASENGAN!" Naruto hit Mr-Two right in the gut. "Rrraaaaaagh!" Naruto put as much power into this shot as he could. Mr-Two span off at amazing speed and crashed into a rock that smashed from the force his body hit it with. Naruto brought his arm down in a victory stance. "I knew that you would be able to stop me, even whilst I'm in sage mode, so I set up a distraction using my clones. When your back was turned, I changed back to my normal form, making you think that I was just another clone, leading you to drop your guard. Naruto looked at the limp corpse of Mr-Two. It lay on the ground, still and lifeless. The job was done.

"Hahahahahaha!" Mr-Two laughed.

"What the…" Naruto looked on as his opponent got up from the dirt and brushed himself down.

"You are really beginning to get on my nerves, but even I can admire your quick thinking."

"But… how are you still moving. No ordinary human would have been able to survive a rasengan of that power, never mind act like it was nothing."

"Human?" questioned. "I assure you that I am no human. I am a Guado!" He picked up his staff. "And I didn't survive that blast. But you can't kill what's already dead."

"Guado? Dead? Wait; don't tell me… that you're immortal!"

"No, I'm not immortal. But I'm pretty close. I can't be killed because I'm already dead. I just need to be sent to the farplane. However, soon after I kill every other existing summoner, that will be impossible."

"Wha…" Naruto looked at the man in disbelief. "I don't understand. Any ninja can summon."

"Oh I know that. But the ability to summon up your living creatures does not give you the title of summoner. You must have the ability to summon an aeon!"

"An… aeon?"

"Yes, let me show you." Mr-Two clutched his staff in both hands and placed the end directly in front of his face. "Come! Anim…." Suddenly the ground beneath exploded, causing him the staff to fly off towards the forest and a cloud of smoke rose from the ground. Once the smoke disappeared, Mr-Two turned to see a man sitting on one of the large rocks. It was a strange looking man in a cloak emblazoned with red clouds and an orange mask with a swirl like pattern on it. He threw a mine up and down in his hands.

"It's your turn Deidara Senpai!" The man said in a goofy voice.

"I told you to call me Antlers outside of the citadel!" Another man said. This one had blonde hair with a streak covering an eye which in turn was covered my some sort of mechanism. Deidara sported the same hooded cloak. Both men had their hoods down.

"Hey, Atlas Senpai?" Tobi whispered with a hand blocking his mouth. "You said Antlers. Did your codename change or something?"

"No, you idiot! I just said that because you kept saying it and now it's stuck in my head!"

"There's no need to shout." Tobi said quietly with his hand blocking 's sight.

"Stop doing that with your hand! It's not like anyone can lip read you with that mask on!"

"Oh, right… Sorry." Tobi dropped his hand.

"What are you two bickering about?!" Mr-Two asked in a demanding voice.

"No way!" Naruto grimaced. "You're from the Akatsuki!" This brought memories back for Naruto. He grinded his teeth and his eyes turned red. A red chakra began to emerge from his body. "I've had enough of you!" He shouted.

"Uh-oh!" Tobi exclaimed. "He looks angry! What do we do?" Deidara stood next to his comrade, looking as calm as ever.

"We're not in the Akatsuki and you're not our target!" Deidara explained to Naruto.

"If I'm not then why are you here?!" Naruto shouted. Deidara pointed at Mr-Two.

"We're here to stop him."

"Stop him?" Naruto was puzzled.

"Look, I know we haven't exactly had a good relationship in the past." Deidara began. "But the Akatsuki is no more and now I'm on your side, so cool it."

"You're as crooked and twisted as they come. You even tried to kill my friends. Why the hell should I trust yo…" Naruto was suddenly hit by a fireball, shot by Mr-Two.

"That's why!" Deidara looked down at Naruto. The nine tailed Jinchuriki was so overwhelmed with emotions when he was hit that he snapped and the Kyuubi's power was unleashed. "Oh well. I guess we can just sit back and watch Naruto rip this guy to shreds."

"You didn't think that I would wait for you to finish your chat, did you?" Mr-Two picked up his staff and pointed it at Naruto, who was growing his first tail. Mr-Two then pointed his free hand at Deidara and Tobi. "I'm not about to let you go free." He looked un-awe-inspired at the TrueAkatsuki members. Deidara smiled and crossed his arms, the mouths in his hands licking their lips.

"I'm glad you said that! I was hoping to get some art done today!"

* * *

Roxas opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a bed. A hospital bed. It would seem that he had collapsed on his way home and was brought here by who ever found him. He sat up and rested his back on the soft pillow at the head of the bed and he looked over the room. He was the only one in here. A sudden sharp pain originated from his chest and Roxas coiled over in reaction.

"Gah!" He grabbed his shirt and pulled on it. The pain was brief, but intense. Why was this new heart hurting so much? Roxas pondered over this question. He also wished to know why it was even there. Unfortunately for him, these were questions to remain unanswered for a while. One thing that Roxas could be sure of was that everything felt different. Not different in the sense that his emotions had changed. It was just a feeling. A feeling that nothing was as it had been. "Am I… Sora?" Roxas asked himself as his heart thudded in his chest. "No, that's stupid." He said to himself. I know who I am… I'm Roxas." He scanned the room once more. "I'm Roxas the nobody. So how did…" Roxas' voice trailed off. Something didn't seem right about this room. There were no sounds. The commotion outside of the room had silenced and there was no sign of any doctors. Roxas turned his head and looked outside the window on the far side of the room. His was the closest bed to it, so he had no problem making out the bird that was frozen mid-air. Time had stopped. A sudden light engulfed Roxas and he felt his body become lighter than air. Yet the feeling to drifting down a bottomless ocean overcame him and he struggled to make out anything. "Why can't I see?" Roxas asked himself. Upon asking this question, he realized that his eyes had been closed. Not voluntarily though. He opened his eyes to see endless darkness ahead of him. There was an abyss that surrounded his entirety, save the cylindrical platform on which he stood. "What is this?" Roxas asked. On the floor was a giant piece of art that depicted Sora and what seemed to be Roxas, but with strange clothing on. "Sora… and me?" At the centre of the cylindrical platform was the image of a heart shared by both Sora and Roxas. Roxas reached out to this heart and placed his other hand on his chest. "So this is Sora's heart?"

"No." A voice said. Roxas instantly turned around to see a mysterious looking figure standing on the edge of the platform. The figure wore a full hooded organization 13 outfit but with red clouds emblazoned on the cloak. This strange character was obviously male by the voice, but other than that, Roxas could not depict any other features.

"Who are you? Are you with the organization?" Roxas asked. The figure did not answer. This made Roxas frustrated. "Answer me!" The figure remained silent. Roxas instantly prepared to fight on the good chance that this was an Organization 13 member. The man lifted his arm and pointed at a spot beside Roxas. "Huh?" Roxas pulled a confused face. He slowly, cautiously went to turn and spotted the item in his hand. "What the… a keyblade." Roxas lifted it towards his face and examined it. It was the kingdom keyblade.

"You are a keyblade wielder. A guardian of the light." The figure said in a voice which was unfamiliar to Roxas, who took a fighting stance.

"Just who are you anyway?" He asked.

"This is the station of sanctity. Across that path, you will find the way to unlocking the power needed to protect your friends." The figure pointed at a newly created stairway that looked as if was made out of stained glass. At the end of this stairway was another platform.

"Protect my friends?" Roxas lowered his guard. "What are you talking about?" The figure refused to reply and began fading into the darkness. "Damn it!" Roxas ran towards the figure, but by the time he had reached him the man had disappeared completely. This left Roxas pondering over just what the hell was going on, prompting him to turn and face the stained glass path. "Well I guess I only have one choice." Roxas grinned.

* * *

"Karuma is quite the powerful one, wouldn't you agree Phantom?" Breeze asked his associate. The portal of darkness disappeared, leaving Phantom fully visible.

"The nine tail Kyuubi? Yes, it is unimaginably powerful. However, whilst inside a Jinchuriki, it cannot do much but lend the Naruto his powers." Phantom replied.

"Indeed. Naruto has benefited quite greatly from this power. But just what does want with the tailed beasts?" Breeze crossed his arms and sat back in his throne. Phantom remained silent. "Anyway, it's not Naruto that I'm interested in. It's his son, Sasuke." Phantom turned his head so that he could directly see Breeze.

"Sasuke?"

"Yes, Sasuke Uzumaki. You remember that kid. You held him down before." Breeze reminded him. Phantom nodded in reply. "As long as he carries on down the path that he's going, he'll be the final piece in our game of unlocking Roxas' true powers. Then it's all up to that girlfriend he's got to keep a tight leash on him." Breeze laughed a little. "We can't let him run amok with all that power. He's going to play right into our hands, and Olette will be the one to make sure that happens." Breeze turned to face his right. "There is nothing that you or your boss can do about it, Miss.C" Both Breeze and Phantom had noticed she was here since both of their arrivals.

"I was sure that I'd kept myself hidden." Miss.C stepped out from behind one of the pillars. "I guess I'm not as good at hide and seek as I thought!" She remarked. "It's too bad for you that I'm a much better combatant!" She said eagerly. Miss.C had long black hair and wore a tanks top with leather trousers. Her skin was fair and she sported Brown eyes. She put on some gloves and stuck her fists before herself in a fighting stance. Breeze didn't seem unnerved in the slightest.

"Phantom, would you have me rid of this pest?" Breeze asked. Phantom nodded and moved between Breeze and Miss.C.

"So you're the second in command?" Miss.C inquired. "I've had enough of dealing with small fry!"

"Watch your tongue!" Another voice sounded from across the room. A cloaked figure approached her position. He was accompanied by three others.

"Back from your adventures in the land of the Pirates I see." Breeze announced. "This is good timing indeed." Miss.C looked around in horror.

'I can't take on five guys at once!' She thought to herself. 'Also, if these guys really were in another universe, then that means we didn't account them. I thought this group only had eight members, but it has twelve. That's equal to ours. I have to tell…" Suddenly, Miss.C was hit in the gut by Phantom. It was a hard blow, making her coil over in pain. She then slowly lost her consciousness.

"Wow, she was a loud mouth!" One of the hooded figures called out. "What a bitch. I can't believe she got past us with a mouth like that!"

"Shut up!" His partner said. "If you don't, I'll kill you!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know!"

"Silence!" The leading figure commanded. This man's partner remained silent.

"It's quiet alright." Breeze said calmly. "That fact that you are all here has put me in a good mood. We can finally retrieve the angel wing."

"Yes. The time has come for my purpose to have reason." The leading figure acknowledged.

"Oh, come on. It's not like this Ark stuff is any use. Only lord Jashin should have that much power. This is damn blasphemy!" One of the figure shouted.

"Remind me why I have to partner up with you again!" His partner demanded.

"It's because you both have a history of partnership." Breeze answered. "I need you both to do a job for me. It's something that you will be especially good at Hidan." Hidan licked his lips in excitement.

"Oh yeah? What have you got for me?" He asked. Breeze pointed at Miss.C.

"Mr-Zero is planning something. I'm afraid to say that we don't know what that is. I want you to get every last drop of information out of her that you can." Breeze stood up and turned the monitor on. It revealed the image of a special artifact.

"You know that I can't leave anyone I've harmed un-killed right?" Hidan asked. Breeze waved his hand in the air.

"Once you've gotten the information out of her, you may do with her as you please." He sat back down in his throne. "Not even can stop my plans. Not one living being can stand up to the might of the one who wields the ark!"

* * *

**Just when you thought things couldn't get any more complicated, I shove in four new characters :D Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, blah blah blah... we've been through this. You keep reading now!**

**P.S I've started another fanfic. This is still my main one (so I'll concentrate on updating this one over the other) but I might begin to slow down (I also has GCSEs to deal with so...). Don't worry your little face though, I'll get the next chapter underway soon.  
IMPORTANT MESSAGE. If you read this chapter before it's last update, I'm sorry. Fanfiction wouldn't let me type in Mr-Two (with a period instead of a dash) so it deleted all mention of his name. That may have been a little confusing for you. But it's fixed now (I think). Please notify me if anything like this happens again. I didn't notice**


	16. Mission success

**Chapter 16: Mission success**

Roxas made his way up the stained glass stairway, admiring his keyblade as he did so. The kingdom keyblade was the first ever keyblade that he had ever laid his hands on. Now that it was within his grip once more, a sense of familiarity filled his new-found heart. The station of vengeance awaited him at the top of the laboriously long stairway. After the long trek to his destination, Roxas found himself standing on the edge of a new platform. He turned to see the old one from afar in hopes that he could get a clearer image of in now. However, it and the stairway had immediately disappeared. Roxas turned back to his current station and looked at the image on the floor. It was that of two unfamiliar men. Both had dark black hair and sported eyes as red as blood. Who could these men possibly be? Our nobody hero walked calmly forward to the center of the ominous platform, keyblade in hand; awaiting the possible looming threat that he for some reason needed to protect his friends from. With a goal set and his mind on track, he ventured forth towards the door filled with light, seeking the power that he would need to accomplish his task.

"So I've got the keyblade again. Must have something to do with the organization. It has to be." Roxas stared up at the darkness and sighed. "Why couldn't they just leave me alone?"

"Who are you?" A voice asked.

"What?" Roxas quickly turned and looked in every discernible direction. No-one could be seen. It was also impossible to tell where the voice was coming from or what it even sounded like. In fact, it made no sounds. Roxas didn't hear any voice; he could simply feel the words."

"Who are you? The voice repeated. "You look familiar."

"I'm Roxas." The blonde replied.

"Roxas? Roxas. If that's your name… then why do you look like him?"

"Look like who?" Roxas asked.

"If you aren't him, then why do you have a keyblade?" The voice ignored Roxas' question. The nobody froze and looked at his keyblade.

"Are you talking about Sora?" He looked up from the blade. No reply came. "Hello?" The voice had disappeared. However, in its place, strange creatures appeared from out of nowhere. They made strange sounds and moved about gracefully. They were almost like nobodies, save the dull grey colour that they were and the purple aura that surrounded their magic. The creatures twisted and turned. They swung their tendrils and batted their hammer like arms. "Nobodies?" Roxas asked. These twisted creatures seemed to be the spitting image the lesser version of Roxas' species. The keyblade wielder stood in a fighting stance and prepared to fight off these strange invaders. Checking on the door once again, Roxas turned his gaze to the fight ahead of him. One after another, the nobody lookalikes attacked Roxas. They were relentless, ruthless and powerful. Obviously something to take seriously when compared to your average dusk. Roxas frowned and glared at his opponents. One attacked him from the side, catching him off guard. As it did so, he prepared to attack, only to let his guard down once more as his energy drained. "What… what the hell!?" He fell to his knees and began to breathe heavily. The creature had fed on some of his light energy. This incident caused him to grow weak; his resolve and will slowly diminishing. However…

* * *

"However, this will also bring his true potential to the surface." Breeze explained.

"His true potential?" Breeze's subordinate asked.

"Yes. The tear feed on his light, draining from him in order to quench their inexhaustible thirst. To do so, they use an unusual power to bring that light to the surface. Roxas will quickly regain his powers and his ability to use the keyblades outside of the stations." Breeze crossed his arms and sat back into his throne.

"I'm afraid that I don't understand."

"I'm astonished." Breeze leaned forward. "I thought you of all people would understand how pain can make one stronger. You see, the…"

"That's not what I meant. I understand that part completely. What I don't understand is how making Roxas powerful is going to benefit us." The man looked up at Breeze.

"I should remind you that I don't like being interrupted!" Breeze glared at him. "But it's okay really. It just so happens that what you're asking doesn't change my answer whatsoever." He looked down at his subordinate, who was listening in closely; as was Phantom. "You see, this will cause him great pain. In ordinary humans, light is stored inside the heart…" He gestured to his chest. "… Right here. So that's where Tear normally target. However, in the case of a nobody, there is no heart to store light within, so it is kept within the mind in order to compensate. Roxas is a nobody with a heart. His body now stores his light within his heart but due to him being a nobody… his body will be unable to allow light to be shone out from that point." Breeze smiled. "As Tear begin to bring his powers to the surface, his entire form and being will fluctuate in order to release that light. Eventually, he will be able to release his powers like normal, but…"

"But what?"

"But, his body will continue to attempt to reject his heart as long as he continues to use his regular powers. Eventually, his body will have no choice but to temporarily accept this new organ. If his body continues to fluctuate his light after that, he…"

"Hmm?"

"I've said enough for now. It's about time that you take care of Sephiroth, isn't it?... Nagato."

* * *

"However, I feel stronger! I feel my powers reawakening from my very core!" Roxas quickly stood up and swung full force at the creature that next attacked him. It flew backwards and crashed into the ground. "I'm getting the hang of this again!" Roxas smiled. His smile soon disappeared as he saw the creature get back up and join its fellow brethren. "But I'm still too weak to deal with these new guys." He turned to the door filled with light and ran for it. 'Guess I'll have to back off for now.' The light came closer and closer still. It became larger and larger until it engulfed Roxas completely. The light settled down and disappeared. Afterwards, Roxas came crashing through to another station. When he did so, something moved. Once he got his bearings, the nobody quickly took a stance and examined the object that had moved. As it turns out, this was no object, but a set of armor. It kneeled down in the center of the platform. "Who are yo-"

"So this is your heart." The voice interrupted. It was the same voice as before. No discernible sound, but it could definitely be heard as clear as day. Roxas lowered his guard.

"My heart?" He looked down. The entire platform was broken into pieces. Shattered, even. "The picture was too hard to make out and the edges of the station were torn off; floating in the distance." Roxas stuck his hand on his chest. "My heart is… broken?" He looked down, then at the armor "Are you the one who is talking to me?" Roxas asked. There was a long pause.

"You wield a keyblade, you look exactly like him, yet your heart is different. It is a heart that does not belong to you."

"Wha-… Doesn't belong to me? How can my heart not belong to me?"

"You are a keyblade wielder, but you are not him. Your heart should be the same as that boy's, but it is completely separate. It cannot exist."

"What, because I'm a nobody?" Roxas glared at the armor. "Look, just tell me why I have this heart because I have no idea! All I know is that Sora…"

"Sora? He has joined his heart with him. You are not him. You are more like her."

"I'm more like a girl?!" Roxas frowned.

"You are someone else." The voice continued. "The only one who could have taught someone else to use a keyblade… is the very same man who took it."

"Took what? Stop talking cryptic! I wanna know some answers!" Roxas demanded information. Unfortunately, all the armor did was stand up and take a fighting stance.

"Okay, you want a fight; I'll give you a fight." Roxas proceeded to take his own fighting stance. He looked over the strange armor that before had lay dormant. It stood there, twice the height of our hero, ready to fight. It did so. Roxas couldn't move fast enough to block the attack properly and just stuck his keyblade horizontally above his head. The armor's keyblade struck down with incredible force. It used only a single hand, yet was still pushing down on Roxas. 'He's fast and strong. Makes me wish that I'd stayed with those creatures.' He quickly jumped to his right, the armor smashing the spot where Roxas had once stood. The armor then swung at him before he had a chance to land. "Too fast!" Roxas stuck his keyblade in the way but was sent flying. "If this is my heart, then you can get out of here!"

"This heart does not belong to you." The voice repeated.

"Then whose is it?!" Roxas shouted as he stood up. The strange armor prepared for another attack.

"Yours." Roxas scrunched up his face in anger.

"AAAAAAHHH! You're not making any sense at all. If it's my heart than why doesn't it belong to me?" Roxas' face turned red. All of this cryptic, confusing chatter was beginning to get on his nerves. The armor remained silent and calm. At least it seemed calm. It was attacking Roxas after all, so it couldn't be that calm. With all of that armor on, whoever wore it wouldn't be able to show their expression very easily. "Gah!" Some saliva flew out of Roxas' mouth as he opened it wide due to the pain that he felt. His opponent had just struck Roxas in the gut with its fist and he coiled over. When the armor drew back its hand Roxas fell to the floor and panted. Whoever this is that stood before him was clearly way out of his league. The teen blonde stood up ready to fight. He breathed heavily. "If this really is my heart… Then what are you doing here?" There was no answer from the voice. "I figured that you wouldn't answer." Roxas chuckled. He wasn't sure whether he found this situation strangely funny or whether he found it so unnerving that he reacted in this way, but he continued to laugh for a short while. "I wish you would give me some answers. I can't make sense of any of this. So if you're not going to tell me anything then why don't you get out?!" Roxas swung his keyblade upwards with full force. The armor simply blocked it with his own keyblade and lashed sideways. Roxas right arm swung backwards as he attempted to hold on to his weapon. The armor lifted his blade and swung down on the nobody. "No way!" Roxas stared in disbelief as his opponent made his final attack.

* * *

Mr-2 jumped back as the ground exploded around him. He had just gotten his bearings when Deidara hit him with another attack.

"This is getting boring." Deidara remarked. "Boring and old. I feel like I'm wasting my beautiful art on you!" Mr-2 brushed himself down and smiled.

"How pitiful. You can't even scratch me." He laughed. Suddenly he was hit from the side by a massive force. It was Naruto. "How impudent!" He snarled at the Jinchuriki. "Watega!" A massive cascade of water blasted forward at Naruto, hitting him. However, this didn't affect him in the slightest.

"Raaaaaaaaagh!" Naruto growled. His second tail had already emerged.

"This is beginning to get out of hand." Deidara sighed. I've been hitting this guy with my art for a while now." He stretched his arms and legs. "Yet I haven't even scratched him. Plus my body aches all over. I don't know how long I can fight for when I can't move for fireballs and Jinchuriki powers."

"But Atlas, you haven't moved since the start of the fight!" Tobi exclaimed.

"That's exactly my point!" Deidara shouted. "My entire body's stiff because if I'm not moving. If move, I'll get hit."

"That doesn't make any sense. I thought a moving target was harder to hit."

"That's not what I was talking about. Look at this guy's fighting style. It's easy to block. But it's harder to block when I'm trying to dodge."

"Oh, now I get it!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You're lazy!" Tobi stuck his finger up. Deidara cringed for a moment.

"I'm not lazy, you idiot! Weren't you listening to me?!" He frowned. "In any case. I'm running out of clay. How about you take a shot at this. After all you haven't helped out since that first mine you blew up."

"Okeydokey Deidara Senpai!" Tobi stood up. "Oops! I mean Atlas Senpai!" Tobi struck an odd pose. "Time for Tobi… I mean Reaver to kick some butt!" He was then hit by a fireball and sent flying.

"Idiot." Deidara looked down at his partner. Tobi was lying on the ground, twitching violently. "Fine, I guess that I'll have to finish this myself." Deidara drew his right hand from his satchel. "That's every last piece mopped up." He pointed his hand at Mr-2. "You won't be getting up from this!" A sound came from the left. "Huh!?" Deidara turned his head to see Naruto swing at him. He dodged out of the way. "Hey! We're on your side, idiot!" He landed near Tobi. "Guess he can't recognize friend from foe." He said to himself. Deidara raised his arm at Naruto. "Fine, then take this!"

"Hmm." Mr-2 smiled. "I guess this is my chance." He lifted his staff. "Come Anima!" He attempted to thrust it into the ground, but failed somehow.

"Owee!" Tobi squealed. "My foot!" Mr-2 looked down to see his staff embedded in Tobi's foot.

"How dare you!" Mr-2 lifted his staff and swung it vertically. By the time he had done this, Tobi was already out of the way, peering over Mr-2's shoulder in a comical manner.

"I've never seen a bird like that before!" Tobi announced excitedly. Mr-2 grimaced and swung horizontally.

"Raagh!" Tobi ducked and picked a flower.

"Ooh! Pretty!" He exclaimed. Mr-2 frowned.

"I've had enough of that!" He swung time after time, not landing a single blow. With each swing, Tobi's dodges grew more and more comical.

"Hey! Ooh! Hee!" Tobi cheered.

"No mere mortal can defeat me. Eventually you will tire out and I will be victorious." Mr-2 said calmly. Over on the other side, further away from the trees, Deidara prepared to unleash his attack.

"Take this!" He fired a massive clay figure shaped like a dragonfly. Although the explosion was massive, it missed. "What!?" Deidara looked to his right to see that his arm had been lifted up by Kakashi. Hinata then jumped in front of Naruto and thrust a seal on his chest, effectively destroying the nine tails cloak.

"Now then." Kakashi began. "Why are you here?"

"I see that things have gotten almost too complicated." Mr-2 sighed. "I suppose that I'll have to pull out for now." He stepped back and began to fade away.

"No wait!" Tobi commanded. It was too late however. Mr-2 had disappeared. "Aww, we failed."

"No." Deidara said. "Our mission was a complete success."

"Success?" Kakashi asked.

"As I've told Naruto, we're on your side now. Our mission was to stop whatever that guy was doing."

"If you're on our side…" Hinata began. "…Then why did you attack Naruto?" She held Naruto's limp, unconscious body in her arms.

"What are you talking about? He attacked me! I was just protecting myself!"

"If you're telling the truth, then I don't suppose that you wouldn't mind answering a few questions." Kakashi let go of Deidara's arm.

"Now that's a problem. I'm on your side, but only in an 'enemy of your enemy' kind of way." Deidara smiled as a dark portal opened up behind him. He proceeded to step in. "Besides, I've got places to go, people to meet." He began to fade away.

"You're not getting away!" Kakashi ran forwards. However, when he got to the portal, he just passed through it as it began to deteriorate. "Damn!" He turned to face Tobi who was also beginning to disappear into his own portal.

"Bye-Bye Guys." Tobi cocked his head. "See you later!" He gave the leaf shinobi the peace sign as his portal completely disappeared."

* * *

"It's all over!" Roxas stuck his arms out in front of his face for protection as his enemy swung. Roxas stood there, sweating as he waited to be struck down. 'I can't believe it!' He thought to himself. 'I can't believe any of this! What the hell is going on?!' Roxas stood there and thought about his situation. Then he thought about it some more. Then he began to realize that he's been thinking for longer than he should have been able to. He opened his eyes and drew back his arms. He was back in the hospital. He could hear the birds chirping from outside his window and the staff working from behind his door. "What the…" He scratched his head and looked around. It didn't take long for him to notice the two nurses who were looking at him in a peculiar way. "Hahahaha!" He laughed nervously as he returned to his bed. 'What was that?' He thought to himself. Roxas lay back on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. 'I've seen that place before, but not like that. What the hell were those creatures and who was that voice from the armor ' He sighed, turning his head to the window on his right. Olette was walking up to the hospital. Roxas pulled a face. "Is she here to see me?" He smiled. His smile immediately turned upside down. "But I guess the guys can't be bothered to take time out of their day to see me."

* * *

"Aaachoo" Hayner and pence sneezed in harmony.

"Ugh, is there a bug going around or something?" Hayner asked as he rubbed his nose.

"No." Pence replied. "Just an overused joke."

* * *

**Hayner: Hey can you stop using that damn 'sneeze when ever someone is talking about you joke'!  
Pence: I'm beginning to wonder if we'll have anything left to sneeze out by the end of this story.  
****Deidara: Yeah. It's getting old, fast. Not like my art. That only gets better with age.  
Hayner and Pence: Who the hell is this guy!?**

**Note to self: Must stop using that joke.**


	17. Pirates, Ninjas and Wizards

**Chapter 17: Pirates, ninjas and wizards**

Roxas stretched his arms. It had been a long day. A long, hard day. True that all Roxas had done was recover from his heart issues; recovering was a big deal. He had to focus on not doing anything exhausting or tiring. The more this goes on, the more it sounds like he was just being lazy, but if you had come to that conclusion, then you'd be wrong. Whilst Roxas wasn't performing any sort of physical activities, he was hard at work trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. A mysterious hooded figure emblazoned with red clouds guided him towards an even more mysterious armored figure with a soundless voice. Axel was back and there were those strange creatures on top of all of it. Nothing made sense any more. Roxas slumped forward in his chair as he tried to figure all of it out. Unfortunately, all he could make sense of was the fact that the 'mysterious figure' was dressed in an organization XIII outfit, save the red clouds that covered it. Maybe the organization was back after all, or maybe someone with red paint found their way into the organization's dress room. Either way, something fishy was going down. If anyone was to stop this, it was Roxas. At least it would be if he could make sense of it all. But he couldn't. Roxas banged his head on the table.

"Damn."

* * *

"Ooh, how coooool!" The man sounded. His eyes grew wider as he watched the large white object drop slowly from the sky.

"What the hell is that thing!?" His navigator shrieked.

"I don't know!" The man replied. "But I'm going to ride it!"

"You're going to what?!" The navigator questioned in horror.

"I said… 'I'm going to ride it!'"

"That's insane!"

"Leave it, Nami." A black haired pirate stuck his arm in front of her. "You know how he is." Nami paused for a second, and then sighed.

"Oh brother. Why do I put up with this?" She asked herself.

"Oh look!" The original man demanded. His entire crew followed his order and watched the strange colossal object open up the skies above. The bottom of it opened up and something fell out. The white object then ascended back above the clouds, slowly disappearing. However, the man's eyes were no longer on that strange white colossus. His attention had now turned to the falling object. It was like a shooting star, except for one thing. It was coming right at them.

"Luffy get down from there!" Nami shrieked. "That thing is going to hit us!"

"What?! It's gonna hit us?!" Luffy shouted.

"That's what I just said!" Nami exclaimed. Luffy turned back around and sat still on the head ornament of the ship. He looked as serious as ever as he lowered his straw hat. "That is…" He lowered his hat even further. He looked even more serious and the tone of his voice matched. "…So AWESOME!" His eyes sparkled.

"What the hell is awesome about that!?" Nami demanded an answer. "We could all die."

"We'll be alright." Luffy assured her and smiled. Nami frowned.

"Talk some sense into him Usopp!" Nami pointed at her captain (Luffy). "Usopp?" He had disappeared. He then peaked at her from his hiding place behind the mast. "Everyone find cover! We're all going to dieeeeeee!"

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiii" Tony Chopper ran around the deck screaming.

"Seriously, why do I put up with this?" Nami asked herself once more.

"Ooh! Look Nami! It's a ship!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

"Hey! I don't have time fo-… Wait, a ship? Nami looked up at the sky as the sun began to be blotted out by the falling object. It was most definitely a ship. "A ship!?" Nami's face turned to horror. 'What the hell is a ship doing falling out of the sky? Oh, wait a sec…' Nami lost her train of thought as Sanji kicked open the cabin door.

"Oh Nami!" He squealed as he held out the tray of refreshments. "Your dinner is read-…" He looked up at the sky and the cigarette that he was smoking fell out of his mouth. The ship was now only one hundred metres away from them. "What the hell!" Everyone began to panic, save Luffy. Monkey. , the rubber man who wears a straw hat. He wasn't afraid at all. The falling ship hit the space of water right next to them, causing their ship to sway. Everyone held onto something. After a while, the ship settled and the Luffy, Nami, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper all ran to the right side of their ship to look over to the other one that had fallen out of the sky. Or at least had fallen out of the strange white object in the sky.

"Did we make it?!" A pink haired man shouted.

"Looks like it." A dark haired man replied. The pink haired man immediately ran to the right side of his ship and threw up over the side.

"Good." He replied once he was finished bringing up his last meal. "Then the Fairy Tail pirates are official!" He raised his arm up into the air. "Alright!" He shouted. "Huh?" He spotted the straw hat pirates looking over at him. "Where did you come from?" He asked. All of the straw hats immediately fell over hard.

"What the hell do you mean where did we come from?!" Sanji shouted at the man as he pointed with one foot on the side of the ship. "You're the one who fell out of the sky!" The man looked up at the clouds.

"Oh yeah." He began to vomit again.

"Get a hold of yourself." A red haired woman ordered him. "You need to get over this travel sickness of yours." She stated. Sanji's attention suddenly turned to this new woman. He leapt onto the deck of the Fairy Tail pirates and grabbed her hand.

"Oh it's finally come true. All of these years I have searched for a woman like you! Tell me… will you accept my lov-" She hit him into the ground.

"Who is this guy?" She asked.

"Don't know." The pink haired man lifted his head up. He looked like death. "He's one of their guys." The woman looked over at the straw hats. Luffy looked back, his mouth gaping. He then went berserk.

"How dare you hit one of my friends! I'll show you…" He went on. Usopp and chopper had to hold him back as he struggled to reach the other ship.

"Sorry." The red haired lady said.

"No we're sorry." Nami replied. "Sanji's always like that around girls. I personally know how annoying he can be."

"But Namiii!" Sanji cried out.

"Shut up!" She exclaimed.

"What's going on?" A blonde girl came out of the Fairy Tail pirate's cabin. Sanji picked himself up from the ground and made his way over to her. He then got down on one knee and took her hand.

"Oh it's finally come true…"

"Did you see that?" The ginger haired man asked his companion.

"Yes." She replied. The two stood under the flag of the red cloud pirates, a notorious group who had recently been stirring up an enormous amount of trouble. Deva Pain looked up at the sky as the crucible receded into the clouds. Pain stared at it plainly, and then looked down at the sheets of paper in his hands. One read 'Red cloud Pain: Dead or alive: 500,000,000 berries. Pain had certainly caused a lot of trouble in such little time. Destroying entire fleets of marine warships, killing high ranking marine officers and taking out some big time pirates and pirate hunters. Pain looked at the other sheets in his hand. 'Monkey. : Dead or alive: 400,000,000 berries. Natsu: Dead or alive: 90,000,000 berries.'

"So then, it would seem this Natsu doesn't have such a high price on his head. So then how did he go about gaining access to one of our crucibles?" He stared at three images of Luffy, Natsu and himself.

"Maybe we should find out." His comrade suggested. Pain simply nodded and continued to look at the bounties.

"Both of their bounties combined don't even add up to mine. We will have no trouble dealing with these pests." He looked up from the papers. "I should get this done quickly. It won't be long before our plan is put into motion."

* * *

"I don't get it." Naruto looked down at his hands. "Karuma, the nine-tails… I thought that I'd subdued him. I thought I could control his powers."

"You could." Kakashi reassured him. "However, it seems that the nine-tails is beginning to break loose again. For what reason that might be, I just don't know."

"Maybe that Mr-2 guy had something to do with it, or maybe the Akatsuki are the ones to blame. Maybe I'm just getting weaker."

"I don't think that's the problem." Kakashi smiled from beneath his mask.

"But how am I supposed to protect my friends if I can't even control myself?" Naruto frowned. He had once gained mastery over the nine tails chakra, but now he was beginning to lose control of it.

"You'll find a way." Hinata smiled. "You always do."

"Thanks Hinata, but…"

"No, don't doubt yourself. I know the kind of man you are and you're not the kind that just gives up every time they make a mistake or lose control. You're the type of man who never gives up, no matter what. You'd never give up on your friends, and we'd never give up on you. So don't you dare doubt yourself after everything we've all been through! I know how important your ninja way is; after all, I made it my own. You won't give up." She looked at him in a way that looks almost like anger, but she was just being sincere. Naruto looked at her.

"Thanks." He said plainly. "I don't know what's going on but I'm sure as well gonna find out!" He balled his hand into a fist. He loosened his fist when a thought crossed his mind. "Kakashi!?"

"What is it?" He asked Naruto.

"The Akatsuki. Do you think that they might be behind Sasuke's disappearance?"

"I wouldn't put it past them. But remember, those two that we fought claimed that they weren't part of the Akatsuki anymore."

"Sort of." A voice said before Naruto could reply.

"Whose there?" Kakashi asked as he looked towards the window. A man with a cloak emblazoned with red clouds sat in it with one leg hanging down on the inside and the other resting on the frame.

"You can call me Riptide, got it memorized? I'm with 'those two you fought'."

"Akatsuki." Naruto growled.

"Not exactly." Riptide began to explain. "I'm with a group called the TrueAkatsuki. Similar name and dress sense, plus we have some members from the Original Akatsuki, but we have a very different goal."

"What would that be?" Kakashi asked calmly.

"Well, we…"

"Don't listen to him Kakashi sensei!" Naruto interjected. "Why the hell should we trust you?!" He asked the man in a frustrated fashion.

"Because right now I'm your only chance of finding your son again." Riptide replied as quickly and plainly as possible. Naruto paused for a moment, and then rested back into his hospital bed. "As I was saying, our original goal is to destroy the extra-cosmic. The space outside of space. The wall that separates each universe from another. However, that is utterly impossible. You can't destroy what technically doesn't exist. So then we researched into how to gain access between these universes… univi? Anyway, we found out how to create these objects called crucibles. They allow us to travel between each universe without having to worry about the space between them."

"Are you trying to tell me that you're from another universe?!" Naruto questioned him.

"Yes. As is that other man you saw. However, he is not with us. Mr-2 is part of another organization called the Alpha12. We don't know what their goal is, other than the fact that it's led them to interfere with our plans. Mr-2 is either the 5th or 6th most powerful member in their group. After all, Mr-Zero, Miss-A, Mr-One, Miss-B are all a higher rank than him and Mr-2's partner, Miss-C would probably be about his level of power, maybe more, maybe less. After that, we have Mr-3 through 5 and Miss-D through F to deal with."

"Are you serious?!" Naruto exclaimed. "That guy was strong. Even in sage mode, I couldn't scratch him. If he's only the 6th most powerful, how would I have any hope of beating them?"

"Luckily, you don't have to worry about that. We've got a lot of strong guys too. The ones you saw fighting Mr-2 before are perhaps some of our weakest fighters. Our leader, Breeze, is insanely powerful. Plus we've got a few others with similar power to him."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Hinata asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Let me get back on track. The crucibles are a great means of transport, but with a flaw. For each one we obtain, we gain access to one more universe to travel to. At the moment, we've only got about three, four connected. Two of those universes were only connected because of the Alpha12. We want to connect all of the universes and collecting crucibles was making that seem like an empty dream. We had to find another way. We did."

* * *

"Mr-Zero. It's nice to finally get to talk with you." Breeze's gin was shadowed by his hood.

"Cut to the chase Breeze." Mr-Zero said in a muffled voice. He had a cigar in his mouth that impeded his speech. Mr-Zero lit it and let it hang. He then took it out and exhaled a large puff of smoke. He then proceeded to return the cigar to his mouth. "What do you want?"

"That's exactly why I called in the first place. I want ask the same question of you."

"Hahahaha!" Mr-Zero laughed, spewing out some smoke from the free side of his mouth. "How rich. You know exactly what I'm after. It's power, same as you."

"Power. I have no interest in…"

"Don't bullshit me Breeze. Your lackeys might lap it up with their imbecilic minds, but you can't trick me. I know that you have an ulterior motive." Mr-Zero smoothed back his dark hair and rested in his 'big chair' laced with gold. His room was much brighter and fancier looking than Breeze's stone room. "What was it that you said? 'You want to connect and unite all of existence and we're all gonna live in a land full of ponies and daffodils.' Hahahahaha! You want the Lexicon don't you?" Mr-Zero smiled. Breeze's eyes grew wider.

"The Lexicon. How do you know of it?"

"Sephiroth told me everything." Mr-Zero's grin grew wider. "I told him what you did to Jenova's body and said that I'd help him get her back. "But even he doesn't know the full truth behind it all. When you collect all the pieces though, everything becomes much clearer."

"What does any of this have to do with Jenova? She's just a rotting corpse stuck in a tube. She is of no value to anyone."

"You really don't know do you? And here I was thinking that you were just playing dumb. I want Jenova back for the same reason you want the angel wing. What do ya say? How about a trade? You give us…"

"You really are as stupid as you look!" Breeze exclaimed.

"Huh!?" Mr-Zero's facial expression showed anger.

"I know what you're talking about. However, we've already tried what you want to try. Jenova is worthless. She is less than the dirt beneath my boot and so are you! Don't underestimate me, Zero! I would crush you now if you had the will to meet me in person!"

"Less than the dirt beneath your boot, you say? Mr-Zero smiled menacingly. "Hey Sephiroth, you gonna let this guy talk about your mother that way?" Sephiroth walked to the spot behind Mr-Zero and turned to exit.

"No." He replied.

"Do you see now, Breeze? I hold all the cards." He blew out some more smoke. "You have as little power as the dirt beneath MY boot." He chuckled.

"We will see." Breeze relaxed into his throne and smiled a deep smile. 'Once Roxas is ready, you will be finished.' He cut the transmission.

* * *

Roxas paced down the streets of Twilight Town. He had gone out for some fresh air in order to clear his head.

"I know what I'm going to do." He said to himself. "Gotta find Axel. He'll know what's going on." Roxas felt much better than he did before. Much, much better. It was as if all the pain that plagued his heart had gone away. Also, now that he had decided on a course of action, he didn't have to get a headache from all the worrying that he was doing. Roxas put his arms behind his head and smiled as the sun's heat bathed his face and neck. It was a nice feeling. No worries, no pain. Just peace.

"Yo Roxas, How's it going?" Kabuto came around a corner and greeted him.

"Alright, I guess." Roxas replied. Kabuto decided to walk beside him. "Your heart doing ok?"

"Yes." Roxas said in a monotone voice. Everyone was talking about Roxas, saying that he'd had a heart attack. He didn't have a heart attack but it didn't stop people from spreading rumours. Hearing people talk about it was getting really annoying.

"Good." Kabuto said, ignoring Roxas' obvious hint at discontent with the question. "Where are you off to?"

"Nowhere in particular."

"Oh. Just out to get some fresh air?" Kabuto asked. Roxas nodded. It was a hot day, considering that it was almost winter. The breeze was nice too.

A cool breeze caused his cloak to flap in the wind. The cloak, emblazoned with red clouds hid the face and body of a man. The cloak wearing man stood on the rooftops and looked over at the bell tower of Twilight Town. Sticking his hand before his face and covering his ring and pinkie finger beneath his thumb, the man smiled.  
"It's time… To make some art."

* * *

**Poor Sephy. He never could take a 'yo momma' joke. Ah well. So... Mr-zero and Breeze. You like? Tell me which one you think is a better baddie (I know I haven't told you much about them or what their identities are). Also, I did say that I would have more animes involved. That's Naruto, One Piece and Fairy Tail. :]**


	18. The Lexicon recovered

**Chapter 18: The Lexicon recovered**

"Whoa! What the hell!" Roxas looked up past the buildings ahead and watched the train station's clock tower explode. The top half of the train station was completely blown apart; the rubble flying outwards before being engulfed by the ever growing fire that expanded from within the building itself. Smoke rose from the wreckage and the bell sounded as the remains of the tower crashed into the plaza below. The noise caused by this sudden event boomed throughout Twilight Town, causing many of its residents to panic. You could see the smoke and ruins (I say ruins, but the ground floor is still standing) from almost everywhere in Twilight Town. A shocking display to be sure. Roxas looked up at the smoke in horror. Kabuto stood by his side with the same expression on his face. They both made their way towards the station as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Hahahahaha" Deidara laughed quietly. He watched the destruction from the roof of a tall building. "So dazzling! It's a shame that my art had to go to waste on this piece of junk." He stuck his hand out towards the ruins of the clock tower. "Oh well, better check it out anyways." He scrunched his hand up, and then laid his palm out flat, revealing a bird like object. He threw it at one of the rooftops beside him and it expanded in a puff of white smoke. The bird flew in front of the building that Deidara stood on, leading him to jump on its back and ride it towards the plaza where to ruins of the bell tower lay. The wind stroked his face as he flew through the air at high speeds. He sat down on the clay bird and relaxed as he quickly made his way towards his destination. It wasn't long before he had nearly arrived and he reacted by standing up in preparation for his jump down to the plaza. Once this was over with, the bird settled down next to him and he made his way over to the part of the ruins where the bell lay. Deidara looked down at the bell. It was battered and broken. Certainly out of commission due to prior events. However, it was not the bell that Deidara was interested in. It was something else. Something of unequal value. He searched through the rubble. "So this is where it had been hiding all this time." He grabbed a large object and pulled it out from under the stone. It was a strange object indeed. It was like a box, except it had many sides to it. It was about the size of Deidara's head… perhaps bigger. It was a dark greyish/metallic silver in colour and had patterns in the form of rivets that ran across its entire surface. No power seemed to be emanating from it, but Deidara knew it for certain. This was what he had been sent to find. This was the item that both the TrueAkatsuki and the Alpha12 sought after. This was the Lexicon.

"Oh, you got here first." A voice said, disappointed. "How boring. Then again, this could turn out to be quite fun." Deidara turned to see a familiar face. Eyes like a snake. Skin as pale as snow. Hair as black as night.

"Orochimaru." Deidara said plainly.

"How nice of you to remember…" Orochimaru smiled. "…Deidara." Orochimaru was dressed in a blue/green outfit much unlike his usual attire. He also sported a red scarf. Orochimaru seemed to be trying to create a whole new level of ugly (and I'm not just talking about his clothes). "But really, when I'm out in the field you should refer to me as Mr-1." He grinned.

"You work for ?" Deidara asked. "Then I suppose you're here for this." He held onto the Lexicon with one hand. However, it was quite heavy for its size.

"Yes. You should give that to me before I have to take any unnecessary measures." Orochimaru stuck out his hand.

"Right… and I'm gonna do that because…"

"You don't even know what that thing does, do you?"

"It's none of your business what I do or don't know. Get lost."

"How precious." Orochimaru laughed. "I guess you were left out of the loop, eh?" Deidara glared at him. He didn't like this guy before. Right now he was just being a pain in the neck. "Tell me Deidara. Do you even know why Breeze wanted you to get that for him?"

"Look, I don't have time to play twenty Q with you, so I'm gonna leave. If you try to stop me, I'll kill you."

"It's too bad. You're just a cowardly little wretch. It really does show in your art, you know." Orochimaru smiled deeply. Deidara glared at him.

"That does it!" He threw the lexicon at his bird, which swallowed it and then proceeded to fly off. "It's about time I took your ugly face and turned it into something beautiful!" He threw some clay at Orochimaru. The clay turned into dragonfly like creatures and they flew at their target with amazing speed. A large explosion took place, destroying much of the plaza ground. Once the smoke cleared, Orochimaru stood tall, unscathed and quite annoyed at Deidara's attempt to explode him.

"How frustrating. I can't believe that I honestly thought I could talk some sense into you. I guess that you're too dumb to realize that I'm completely capable to killing you." Snakes began to appear from practically all of the holes and cracks in the immediate area and many wrapped themselves around Orochimaru's body. The others slithered towards Deidara. The TrueAkatsuki member quickly created a new clay piece and threw it off the side of the plaza, allowing it to plummet below. He jumped in after it and landed on the birds back just as it expanded. He then flew it up until he was above the plaza. As he hovered above the ruins that was the station plaza and the clock tower that had fallen on it, he looked down at Orochimaru with nothing but envy. For he believed that this battle would end with Orochimaru becoming something truly beautiful.

* * *

Roxas paused. He almost fell over as he did so (since he was running). Once he had caught his balance, he turned back. A greyish trendil disappeared around the last corner.

"What's wrong?!" Kabuto asked, waiting for Roxas to catch up. Roxas did not answer, however. He just stared at the spot where the trendil had been, then ran off in order to find the strange creature to which it belonged. "Hey! Wait!" Kabuto stuck his hand out towards Roxas. However, the young teen had already run off. Kabuto frowned and decided to follow. Roxas was running at full speed in order to gain on this mysterious creature. He only saw parts of it for a split second as he ran around the corners but he knew that he was right. The creature was the same as the ones that attacked him at the stations. Suddenly he found himself in the sandlot. He looked around. Seifer and his gang were surrounded by the strange grey creatures.

"Let's show them what the Twilight Town disciplinary committee can do!" He smirked and twirled a struggle bat around in his hand. The duo that followed him nodded and prepared to fight. However, it looked like they were all backing up together, as if they were afraid. The creatures sensed Roxas presence. They sensed the power of light. They wished to feed on the light. The grey creatures darted around the disciplinary committee for a few seconds, and then headed over to Roxas. He tried to equip the keyblade, but it wouldn't work. The creatures quickly surrounded him and began to pull at him. They slashed and cut him. They sucked out the very light that Roxas had in his heart.

"Gaaaah!" He screamed. It was all very painful.

"What the… Roxas!" Hayner shouted as he entered the sandlot. "What the hell are those things?"

"Don't worry blondie!" Seifer grinned. "I've got this all under control." Seifer pointed his struggle bat at the creatures. "I think it's about time I showed you some disciplinary measu…" Seifer was suddenly struck in the face by Hayner, sending him toppling over. Hayner clenched his fist.

"You really tick me off." He said plainly. Seifer's two friends (and his fan girls if he has any left) looked at Hayner in shock. "Don't worry Roxas. I'm coming!" He ran towards his friend with a goal in mind. He needed to protect Roxas and beat the living daylights out of whatever these things were. He ran towards Roxas and put his hands out in order to grab one of the creatures. The creature simply turned and swiped at him. A swipe that would kill an ordinary man.

"Hayner!" Roxas shouted through the pain. Hayner dropped to one knee and looked down at the ground. Roxas looked at him.

"No way." He said to himself as the creatures scattered. In his hand, Hayner held a keyblade which had slashed through the very creature that attempted to attack him. Hayner was a keyblade wielder. He stood up and looked at Roxas. "Why didn't you tell me?" Roxas asked.

"What do you mean?" Hayner replied. "That I have an awesome sword?" Roxas felt the light inside of him being brought to the surface. He summoned up the kingdom keyblade and stuck it out in front of his face. "No way! You have a keyblade too?!"

"Yeah." Roxas lowered his keyblade.

"Well then why didn't you tell me?" Hayner pulled a face at Roxas, who shrugged as an answer. "Honestly Roxas. You expect me to come crying to you every time I have something new to show and you're not gonna do the same to me. That seems a little selfish." He grinned. "But it's okay…" He pointed at himself. "… Because the mighty Hayner accepts your apology!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about any more." Roxas said. Hayner laughed and turned in the direction of the creatures. They were gathering near the centre of the sandlot. Hayner's smile faded. He still had a small smirk though (just a small one).

"You could have at least told me about you and Olette." He said without even glancing at his friend. Roxas turned as red as humanly possible.

"Wait, what? I don't know what you're…" He shook his head and his hands.

"I know." Hayner said. He pointed his keyblade at the strange creatures. It was a beautiful keyblade. Many patterns intersected each other and the gold/black/blue colours looked amazing. The gold covered the blade, lower and inner sections of the keyblade. The black covered the handle, upper and outer parts of the keyblade. The blue could be seen in various parts of the patterns. The shape of the key was almost crown shaped (like the kingdom keyblade) but it was much more rigid and sharp. The keychain was the shape of a crown similar to that of the key's shape. "But let's forget about that for now. We have some ass to kick!" He grinned deeply. Roxas nodded and they ran towards the creatures and swung their keyblades.

"Huyaaaaaah!"

* * *

"Damn. This was supposed to be simple. Just a simple 'pick up and deliver' type job. That's why I hardly brought any clay other than what I used to destroy the clock tower." Deidara panted. "I knew Orochimaru was strong but…" He jumped off of his bird as a mass of snakes covered it and crushed it, causing it to explode. '… I didn't know he was this strong! Something's changed about him.' Deidara tried to create a new bird but was hit by some more snakes before he had time to do so. He became tied up in the snakes and almost crashed into the ground. He would have if the snakes weren't lifting him half a metre up from the ground. They wrapped themselves around his limbs and neck. "Gah!"

"How precious. I thought that you TrueAkatsuki were supposed to be more powerful than the regular Akatsuki. Yet here you are before me." He brought Deidara closer to him. Their faces were inches apart. "You look so pitiful strung up like that. How about I end it for you?" Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and a blade emerged. It slowly extended towards Deidara's face. He looked scared at first, but then…

"Ha!" His clay fake shouted as it exploded right in front of Orochimaru's face. The explosion destroyed half of the plaza, sending rubble crashing down below. The real Deidara rose up on another clay bird and looked over the plaza.

"Did I get him?" He tried to see through the smoke. The smoke did not dissipate and would not reveal the answer to his question. What did reveal the answer was a bunch of snakes that darted towards Deidara from the smoke. Deidara immediately took evasive manoeuvers. "I don't have any clay left. Not even a scrap. I guess I better make my exit." He flew off into the distance. He flew far from the plaza. "Another successful mission." He smiled. "This is too easy." Back at the plaza, the smoke began to fade, revealing Orochimaru standing among the rubble. He smiled, licked his lips and came apart in a mass of snakes.

"So this is the Lexicon." He smiled as he reformed where his snakes had crashed the original clay bird. It exploded upon impact, but the Lexicon (which was inside the bird) remained unscathed. "How amusing it is to see lesser people squabble about in their own filth in order to put this thing in their collection. Such a small thing."

* * *

Roxas and Hayner stood back to back. The strange creatures surrounded them. Roxas looked ominously at the direction from which the far off commotion was happening.

"You think there might be some causing trouble at the station?" He asked.

"That would explain the explosions." Hayner replied. Roxas looked around at the creatures. The danced around elegantly, much like a dusk would. However, it would seem that these things were nothing like dusks. They were much harder to take out and they had numbers to boast.

"I'll take on these ones. You find out what's going on at the station." Roxas commanded.

"You sure you can handle all of these things?" Hayner asked as he cut down another one. The grey creatures twitched with anticipation as they hungered for the light within Roxas and his fellow keyblade wielder.

"Yeah. I've been a keyblade wielder longer than you have. I know how to handle myself." Roxas readied himself for another strike just as one of the creatures sprung at him. He shook it off and made a swipe, causing the creature to recede into the crowd.

"Hey, you don't know how long I've had this!" Hayner reminded his friend as he waved around his keyblade.

"How about we fix that? How long have you been able to use a keyblade for?"

"Almost a year." Hayner grinned. Roxas smirked. He had seniority.

"Over a year. Now go and check out the station." He commanded once more. Hayner scoffed and rubbed his nose.

"Yeah yeah! I hear you!" Hayner loosened his stance and made a run for the slope leading to the usual place (which is in the direction of the station). He then stopped and turned to face his friend. "Good luck." He smiled. Roxas nodded at him.

"Thanks." He replied. Hayner's smile turned into a smirk, then a grin. He then continued on his way towards the station, a big grin plastered across his face. Roxas smiled and returned to the situation at hand. He looked around him. There were a lot of the strange creatures that he needed to deal with. Twenty, twenty five, thirty, thirty five… Just how many were there. In a straight out fight, Roxas might be able to handle a similar number of dusks. But up against these things, he would be lucky if he survived a battle with ten. He readied himself. One of the creatures suddenly attacked in an outburst of violence. Roxas struggled to block all of the incoming attacks as the creature ensued an onslaught of relentless attacks. This one seemed different from the last. It fought with more skill. It was learning. That meant that these creatures had the ability to adapt to situations quickly. Therefore, if Roxas let the battle drag out for too long, he would be giving them another advantage. He struck the creature down only to be attacked by another, then another. The creatures attacked him in co-ordinated movements. Each one took their turn to get a single strike at the keyblade wielder only for the next to do the same. Occasionally, another one would attack Roxas relentlessly, only giving up once dead. This did not look good. Roxas panted. With each attack, he could feel his energy drain. These creatures, whatever they were, are strong as hell and tough to the same or a similar extent. They danced gracefully across the stone floor, barely touching it. Their grey skin (if it could be called skin) almost glinting in the sunlight. Roxas blocked another attacked and attempted to strike another one, only to end up getting thrown onto his back. They diverged towards him as he got up and swung around his keyblade erratically, trying his best to take down as many as he could. As the creatures began simultaneously swooping towards him in an effort to bring him down, Roxas violently cut and slashed in every direction that he could reach. He could feel it. He could feel the keyblades hitting the creatures away. But that's not good enough. He can't just hit them away and protect himself; he needed to kill them. A blue light caught the corner of his eye. He looked in time to see one of the creatures be taken down. He was shocked by this sudden aid but welcomed it nonetheless. Roxas looked closer as the blue light, able to make out a hand from beneath it. That hand belonged to none other than Kabuto.

"Thought you could use some help." Kabuto smiled as some of the creatures diverted their attention towards him. However, only a few seemed interested in taking him on as the bulk stayed with Roxas, who was now smiling again.

"Where have you been?" He asked. Kabuto saw one of the creatures lunge at him and grasped its arm, striking its lower body straight afterwards. The creature collapsed and he finished it off.

"I got caught up by some of these grey things. They were following me follow you follow them. In short, they aren't just in the sandlot. They're everywhere!" Kabuto explained. Roxas frowned.

"Hayner might be in trouble." He said. Roxas looked over at Kabuto to see his reaction. He wanted to know his take on the situation. Kabuto's face was plain. He was busy concentrating on the strange grey creatures that were attacking him.

"We're the ones who are in trouble. There are a few going around different streets in Twilight Town but the bulk will be drawn here because of that." He pointed at the keyblade. Roxas turned it and examined it. "It looks like these things are attracted to the light." Kabuto turned his gaze from Roxas momentarily so that he could deal with another creature assaulting him. Roxas had to do the same. He frowned even deeper.

"Hayner has one of these too." He told his friend. Kabuto looked at Roxas, shocked.

"If that's true, then the main bulk will be split about evenly. That means there are a lot more of these things than I thought there were."

* * *

Hayner jumped back a couple of times in order to dodge the attacks. He looked for an opening. There were none. Still, he refused to back down and swung his keyblade around like a lunatic. The creatures didn't give in. The wouldn't. The Tear were thirsty for the light and Hayner had a lot of it. Perhaps not as much as his friend Roxas, but still… Mounds and mounds of the creatures practically glided through the streets in order to get to him. Hayner was surrounded.

"Oh man. What have I gotten myself into?" He looked up at the sky. A purple tear ran across it. It had been there for a long time, but not like this. Before, it was just a faded hue that seemed to always be in the sky. Now it was more like a clear, jagged rip in the heavens above.

* * *

"The Tear will come. They will destroy everything you know and love in their quest to quench their infinite thirst for light." Pain told the other two pirate crews. He was the only one of the red cloud pirates with his hood down. He looked at the Straw hats, then the Fairy Tail pirates. "That is how this will always work when we try to connect one universe to another. They come in unimaginable numbers and lay waste to the land." Deva Pain's face was as plain as ever. "They will enter into all of the connected universes. Even with a combined effort, it would be impossible to stop them. However…"

* * *

"… There's a failsafe. The Ark has a special system made solely to counteract with this problem." Riptide told Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi. "Whilst we can't beat them with brute force, we can force stop them from getting into the universes that we connect to the system."

"How d'you do that?" Naruto asked.

"We have to sacrifice once of them. The Universes I mean."

"What, no way!" Naruto leaned forward. "That's insane!"

"I'm afraid it's the only way to stop them from killing everyone. If they take over all of the Universes and somehow gain control of the Ark, imagine how many more Universes could be at risk. We have to use the Ark's failsafe to divert all of the Tear into a single universe. That way no more will attack the other ones and if we connect another universe, instead of the tear being able to attack it, they will just be thrown into the sacrificed universe. However, there's the problem of deciding which one to sacrifice." Naruto and the others remained silent. "I volunteered my universe since it was already attracting most of the Tear, so it would be easier to divert the Tear in that direction. I didn't want my universe to be sacrificed or anything, but one had to go and it only seemed right. But Breeze told me that he has something 'more appropriate' in mind for the decider. When we connect new universes, we may come across some powerful and violent ones. So that we can protect ours from any of these violent universes that may come up, we will need strong fighters in order to keep the peace. So we have to leave the weakest of the universes behind."

"You shouldn't have to leave anyone behind!" Hinata interrupted.

"Yeah. That's just sick. You can't just leave someone to die because their weak!" Naruto barked. Kakashi remained silent. "Tell him Kakashi… Kakashi?" Kakashi simply continued to listen to Riptide's words.

"I know, but you gotta understand that there isn't another way. If there was, I'd have taken it by now. Anyway, we've decided that in order to root out the weakest of us, we'll have to have battle Royale between the universes. Well not exactly. In a battle Royale it'd be every man for himself but… this will be more like a war between the Universes.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto shouted at him. "You say you're on our side but you're trying to start a war! Don't preach to me about how it's the only way 'cause there's always another way!"

"Can't you just evacuate the people to the other universes before you activate the failsafe?" Kakashi asked calmly. Riptide glanced at him and sighed.

"No. That's the thing. Letting anything from that universe out would cause the failsafe to break. We have to contain the population within the universe, by force if necessary."

"How could you?!" Naruto growled at Riptide. "Millions of innocent people could die!"

"Billions." Riptide said suddenly. "But I want to help you. I think your son may be the key to letting your universe stay safe. But we have to go into my universe to get him back."

* * *

"There's no way were gonna fight each other to see who gets to kill the most innocent people. That's the stupidest thing that I've ever heard." Natsu shouted. Pain looked down at him with judging eyes. "I don't know whether you knew this or not, but I'm a Fairy Tail wizard and we do things a little diff…" He was cut off by a swift blow to the face, causing him to fly through the air and into his mast. A strange sound followed as Luffy retracted his arm.

"Luffy! What the hell!" Nami shouted at him.

"Don't worry about it, no-one's gonna die." Luffy smiled. " top is a bad liar. I can tell. But this battle thing sounds like a lot of fun!"

"I don't think he's lying Luffy." Nami squealed.

"I have to agree with Nami on this one." Usopp shivered in fear. "This guy means trouble."

"Even if he isn't lying… that just means that we have to fight to protect our world!" Luffy smiled.

"Hey, what the hell was that for." Natsu rubbed his cheek. "Alight then, if you want a fight, I'll give you a fight!" He prepared to fight Luffy.

* * *

Roxas and Kabuto had moved further away from each other during their fight with the strange creatures. Kabuto was now backed into a corner on one side and Roxas was close to the centre of the sandlot, but closer to the wall away from Kabuto. He swung his Keyblade around and caught a few of the creatures in the process, only stopping to see the new form that had entered the sandlot. Roxas relaxed slightly, but not too much, and looked over at it. Some of the creatures danced around it, like they had done with Roxas before, except some were dangerously close and some were far from the form. The closer ones were quickly blasted away and now Roxas could see the form clearly. It was…

"Sasuke!" Roxas grinned. With Sasuke here, this fight would go a lot more smoothly. However, Sasuke didn't smile back. He seemed almost emotionless, at least it seemed that way to Roxas. Then he punched Roxas in the face with full force.

* * *

**As you may have noticed, I have been slowing down with the updates (I'm about four times slower than when I started out, maybe more). This is a result of my exams coming up and I apologize for the inconvenience. On another topic, I'm looking forward to writing about the next few chapters as they will be eventful ones. :) Until the next update, you can speculate what will happen. :P**


	19. No other choice

**Chapter 19: No other choice**

That was the first thing he remembered seeing. Through all the burning and the fire. He could just make it out. Just looking at them made him feel sick to the stomach. He felt as light as air and as heavy as led at the same time. He stared at them from afar, yet they seemed so close. They were cruel, unforgiving and unforgetting. Those red eyes. Those red eyes of hate.

* * *

Roxas fell backwards as Sasuke's punch connected. It felt very much like flying, yet his feet were still touching the ground. He stumbled backwards and twisted and turned as he tried to catch himself. Once he'd caught his balance, Roxas stood still to ensure that he wouldn't fall over. He then realized that he was turned away from Sasuke and quickly performed a one-eighty only to see his friend attack once more. Roxas shoved the kingdom keyblade in-between himself and the punch, making sure that he didn't cut Sasuke with the blade.

"Hey what's the big idea!?" He roared. "Answer me. Why are you attacking me and not them!?" Roxas made no gesture towards the strange creatures but it was obvious that it was them which he was referring to. Sasuke remained silent for a moment. His punch was strong. Roxas could feel his arms shaking. Sasuke was holding his fist against the keyblade, most likely out of fear that Roxas would swipe at him if given the chance. However, Roxas simply relaxed when Sasuke retracted his arm and jumped back. The blonde teen swung his keyblade to his side and glared at his old struggle opponent. "Well? Are ya gonna say anything!?" He was getting frustrated with the silent glare that Sasuke was returning. Then…

"I don't have a choice."

"What?"

"I don't have a choice." Sasuke repeated. "It's you or me!" He sprang towards Roxas with great speed and threw his right fist out in a rage. Roxas responded by blocking this attack with his keyblade again. The faces of these two boys were so close they were almost touching. Both glared at each other. A shadow appeared from behind Roxas, above him. He released his left hand's grip on the keyblade and blocked another attack with his arm. It was Sasuke. There were two of him.

"What the hell?" Roxas had a surprised look on his face like he'd just seen a ghost. This Sasuke was different. He had a small knife out. A kunai. Luckily, Roxas had hit Sasuke's wrists with his arm instead. Otherwise, it could have been messy. 'What is he?' Roxas instinctively twisted around his keyblade whilst still looking this new Sasuke in the face. The blade ripped right through the original Sasuke. Roxas turned to face him, shocked by what he'd just done but was surprised to see a puff of smoke appear.

"You shouldn't turn your back on an enemy!" Sasuke shouted and twisted his body, kicking Roxas in the ribs. Roxas fell to the ground and clutched his side. It stung badly. It felt like he'd just been stabbed by a blunt sword. Sasuke landed back on the ground perfectly and turned his kunai around so that he was holding it backwards. He remained in a battle stance and waited for Roxas to get back up. The keyblade wielder used his weapon of choice to hold himself up as he struggled to stand. Roxas knelt on one knee and pushed himself up using the keyblade and leaned on it, coughing and pulling faces from the pain. Eventually he recovered himself and lifted his keyblade and took his usual stance.

"Fine. I see how it is." He looked over at Sasuke. 'It's never simple, is it?' He sighed and prepared to fight. "Sasuke. You're such an idiot!" He charged at Sasuke and swung his keyblade horizontally; slow enough for Sasuke to easily block it with his kunai but accurate enough that Sasuke was struggling to keep his defense up. Uzumaki quickly stepped back and allowed Roxas' attack to proceed forward and slipped to the right, throwing the teen off balance. Roxas quickly caught himself and swung his keyblade around to his left in order to block Sasuke's next attack. However, Sasuke expertly jabbed at the right points of the keyblade to throw Roxas off. Roxas began swinging violently at Sasuke and succeeded at getting him to back off. Sasuke jumped back and crossed his index and middle finger of one hand over the ones on his other hand. Two Sasuke copies appeared next to him. 'Clones? Is that some sort of power that he has?' Roxas prepared to fight these copies. Before he knew it, the clones were attacking. He swung his keyblade at one, then the other. He stepped with the swings and the slashes. More and more clones appeared around him and attacked him. More and more steps. Roxas displayed incredible footwork as he quickly and expertly took the mimics down. Each tried to get the better of him and each fell to Roxas' mastery of the keyblade. This sudden burst of skilled fighting was not a result of expertise or a result of actual skill. At least it didn't seem that way. Fighting with the keyblade had always felt natural to Roxas. It felt less like he was using it as a blade, more like the keyblade was leading Roxas. Like it was using him as a tool to help it strike down its enemies. The keyblade was surely a magnificent weapon. With one fell swoop, Roxas struck down several more clones.

'I can see exactly how he's manoeuvring his blade.' Sasuke examined Roxas as the clones were beaten down. No sooner do they appear than they disappear in a puff of smoke. 'He doesn't have a chakra system or use jutsu. He uses some sort of light energy that emits from his center From somewhere deep down inside of him. As he gets into the fight, his power gets released from his center to all the parts of his body. This also happens when the weird creatures move closer to him. They suck out some power and a lot more comes to the surface, like how a mosquito sucks out blood and stops the blood flow from clotting after it's started." The arteries around Sasuke's eyes bulged. 'His movements suggest that he is moving with the over-sized key, not the other way around as it should be. Perhaps if I can separate him from his weapon, he'll lose the skill to block my attacks.'

"How many are there?" Roxas asked, frustrated. He swung the kingdom keyblade around quickly and caught another one in the face, causing it to explode in a puff of smoke. A thought crossed his mind. This was similar to before. Surrounded and swinging his keyblade around. The strange creatures weren't attacking anymore. Why was this? Roxas swept across the circle of clones surrounding him, causing many of them to disappear and targeted the last remaining few. Another thing had changed. Sasuke had been constantly generating the clones as they were destroyed. However, the clones had stopped appearing. Either Sasuke had run out of power or… Roxas quickly defeated the last of the clones and turned to face the strange light that became brighter and brighter. He turned as fast as he could, his arms and the keyblade trailing behind, ready to strike with full force. Sasuke pounced down from above and readied himself to land his feet on the ground and a blow dead center on Roxas' body. Sasuke looked enraged, his veins and arteries around his eyes looked like they were about to burst. His irises formed lines in the center to form what would ordinarily be the pupils. His mouth opened as he readied to scream and he threw his arm around towards Roxas, a strange, bright blue orb rotating in his hand, the wind from it swirling around like a small hurricane. This was it. This was the final attack. Roxas wasn't sure if he could bring his Keyblade around in time. Sasuke thrust his arm forward with all the might he had in him. All his strength. All his will.

"RASENGAN!" The rasengan hit Roxas' keyblade at its middle just as he brought it around. The block might have been successful but he couldn't hold on much longer. This blue orb shined a white light from its center It was almost blinding. As Sasuke landed on the ground and continued to push, the rasengan seemed to become even stronger. The winds became more constant and violent. Roxas could feel himself being pushed back by the wind alone. The strength of the power was pushing the keyblade back and the rasengan made it vibrate violently, making it hard for Roxas to hold on. His arms shook and he grimaced as he felt them becoming weaker. He grunted as he tried his best to hold on and push back but it was too much. "HURYAAAAAAAH!" Sasuke shouted as he thrust forward. His rage increasing the power of his ability. The keyblade rattled and shook. Sasuke continued to shout and scream in determination as Roxas did the same. Both fully focused on winning this single exchange of power.

*Slash* The rasengan burst in an explosion of chakra and powerful winds, making the keyblade fly from Roxas' hands, slashing his cheek as it was flung into the distance. It span off into the sky and landed somewhere unknown. There was no hope now. Roxas stumbled backwards and tried to regain his balance. His legs were wobbling from the exchange. Sasuke revealed the kunai in his other hand and swung around with it. There was no time to dodge. Roxas' limbs were too affected from shock to move him out of the way. His arms flailed as Sasuke prepared to strike the killing blow. There was only one thing left to do as the battle came to a close. Roxas saw the kunai knife head towards him. It was a killing shot. He had no time to block it. There was nothing else he could do. He didn't want it to end like this.

Roxas reformed the keyblade in his hands and swung down.

* * *

**Worried that It'll take over a week for me to write the next chapter? I'm already writing for the next story arc so you don't have to worry about that. You'll see the next update by Saturday (British time zone). Also, this chapter is pretty short but I thought that this was a good place to end it.**


	20. Eternal summer

**Chapter 20: Eternal summer**

Roxas saw the kunai knife head towards him. It was a killing shot. He had no time to block it. There was nothing else he could do. He didn't want it to end like this.

Roxas reformed the keyblade in his hands and swung down.

Blood splattered across the floor and covered the keyblades edge. Roxas glared at Sasuke. His expression made it look like he wanted to kill him, but he didn't want that. He wanted things to end happily. He wanted to spend an eternal summer with his friends. With Hayner, Pence and Olette. He wanted to keep asking Kabuto for help on his biology course work and then ask Olette once he realized that she'd be angry if he'd hung out with her 'arch-enemy'. Hell, he'd even miss Seifer's idiocy. He wanted to make new friends too. To be surrounded by them. He'd hoped that Sasuke would be one of them. The Sasuke he knew from the match. The boy who was just as determined as Roxas to win. The one who was always upbeat and loud. The boy who was not only an equal match for his fighting skill but for his attitude towards others. This wasn't the Sasuke he had met before. He was still the same boy deep down inside. Even though he didn't show it. He wasn't like this. If he cared so much about others, even his opponents as shown when he tried to help up Hayner, why didn't he show it anymore? What happened to him? Why doesn't he…

"… Snap out of it!" Roxas turned his armed around and flicked the keyblade around to his side so that it was exactly horizontal and faced backwards. Blood flicked off the blade when his did this and when he thrust the butt of the weapon into Sasuke's face. It smacked into his face with incredible force and threw him back. Sasuke's face distorted slightly as the butt practically moulded his face and he crashed into the ground, his face returning to normal. He gasped as he recoiled from the fall and clutched his cheek, ignoring the gaping wound that travelled from the top of his chest to just below his belly button. His clothes had ripped from the cut and the red line across his body was fully visible. It was almost completely vertical, starting slightly closer to his left shoulder and ending slightly closer to his right leg. Luckily for him, it was not deep enough to kill him if it was treated properly. Sasuke tried to fight through the pain and get up. But just as he began lifting his head, Roxas shoved the keyblade in front of his face. The keyblade wielder stood at Sasuke's feet and pointed his weapon directly at his face. Some of the blood on the blade's edge dripped down onto Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke lay on his back and looked at Roxas, shocked. Roxas just stood there, defiant of how this should be.

'I don't get it. I'm his opponent. If I'm down, he should finish me. He shouldn't give up now. You can't give up. I can't give up!' He struggled to move.

"There's no point!" Roxas exclaimed. "Stop struggling. The battles over."

"No." Sasuke said quietly. He tried to make his voice sound demanding, but he was so weak. His voice was as loud as he could make it (which wasn't very loud.). "It… It's not over." His voice was wobbling. He coughed in between words as he struggled to speak. He then coughed up blood and used his left arm to clutch his wound rather than his bruised face.

"It is. Haven't you noticed? You're eyes have returned to normal." Roxas didn't know what he meant. But he hoped it meant something to Sasuke. He was right. Sasuke's byakugan had disappeared without his permission. It just stopped working. "And you're in no condition to fight. Whatever reason you have to try and kill me. There's no point in using it as an excuse to try and win. Whatever reason it is, it won't help you. It doesn't have to end with one of us dying. It never has to end like that. Whether you believe it or not, you DO have a choice. Just stop…" Roxas discontinued his speech when he saw Sasuke's face. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth and tried to stop himself from coughing up too much blood. His teeth began to turn red as he coughed and his eyed turned red as his capillaries began to show up through the strain he felt in his eyes as liquid poured from them. Tears ran down his face as he took his right hand and grabbed the keyblade just above the blade where it was cylindrical.

"Why?" He said quietly as he tried to fight off the pain and the tears. "Why don't I have the power to protect my friends?" He cried harder. His voice became much frailer as he tried harder and harder to hold back his ever flowing tears. "Why… can't I protect them? Why?" He coughed up some more blood. "W-why… why can't… why can't I…" Roxas could feel it. The keyblade wobbled with Sasuke's hand. He couldn't stay still. He was struggling so hard. His mouth distorted as his sadness got the better of him. His voice was now that of any other person who was overcome with sadness and tears.

"It's alright Sasuke." Roxas said quietly. He felt sorry for the boy. He had considered him a friend after the struggle tournament. To see him like this…

"I have to… Have… to…" His arm shook as he tried to pull Roxas' keyblade to the side and disarm him. Roxas could have easily held it still. Sasuke was so weak. He didn't hold it back from Sasuke. He let him pull it. There was no need to fight him anymore. Sasuke pulled the Keyblade down to his side and pulled on it more, bringing himself up as he did. He hoped that he could pull himself up and pull Roxas down, but Roxas just stood still. If he didn't, Sasuke would have fallen over again. Uzumaki pulled as hard as he could and tried to get onto his feet. Roxas slowly tugged on the keyblade to help him up. Sasuke picked up the kunai as he began to get on to his feet again. He steadied himself and prepared to strike. "I-I… h-have to…" Tears ran down from his eyes as he tried to live through the pain. Not the pain from his wound or his bruise. Not pain from his loss of pride for ending up in such a state, but the pain that he had failed to protect his friends. He didn't want to accept it. He had to win. He had to protect them.

"Sasuke…" Roxas whispered. Sasuke threw the keyblade to the side, making Roxas swing it back a tiny amount and then he charged.

"Aaaaaagh!" He screamed in an extremely frail voice as he tried to attack Roxas. His voice faded at the end of the scream and Roxas dropped the keyblade to grab him. He held Sasuke's left wrist (the one which hand had a kunai in) and used his shoulder to catch Sasuke as he collapsed. Roxas put his other arm around Sasuke and held him close, but made sure not to catch his wound.

"It's okay Sasuke. You don't have to fight anymore. Your friends will be alright. I'll help you protect them. After all, I am one of them, right?" His face remained expressionless. Sasuke dropped the kunai on the floor and burst into tears.

"I just… I" He cried and cried until his consciousness left him, after which he slumped over Roxas. The young blonde teen then waited a moment before laying Sasuke down next a wall on his back (so that his wound wouldn't touch anything) and stared down at him.

"It's okay. I understand if you want to protect your friends. I want the same thing." He looked down at his friend in sorrow. He didn't understand how Sasuke could think that killing him would help him protect his friends but for Sasuke's sake, he was going to find out. 'Axel. What the hell is going on?'

* * *

"So that's that. You either help me or your son is gonna get himself killed." Riptide put plainly.

"You're insane." Naruto glared at him. "This whole time you've been feeding us some crap about other universes! If you think for one second that I'd believe any of that…"

"Naruto!" Kakashi interrupted. His voice was sharp and harsh.

"K-Kakashi?"

"I know this is all hard to believe, and trust me, I'm finding it hard to believe any of this, but… Whether this man is telling the truth or not doesn't matter. He's our only lead on Sasuke."

"Yes. Haven't you got that part memorized yet?" Riptide asked as he tapped his hood. "I've told you several times now." Naruto returned his focus to the hooded man before him. He didn't have many options. His sneer turned into a frown. He had to accept it.

"Fine." Naruto replied.

* * *

The water splashed across the decks of the straw hats and fairy tail ships. Wood cracked and splintered as the events went on.

"Gum-Gum PISTOL!" Luffy held his shoulder as his extended arm shot forward, causing damage to the oppositions' ship as Natsu dodged the attack. The gum-gum pirate then retracted his arm and brought his leg up as high as it would go. "Gum-Gum BATTLEAXE!" He kicked downwards with intense force, damaging both his own ship and that of the fairy tail wizards. His foot smashed the deck right next to Natsu, who was nimbly dodging Luffy's attacks. Salamander (That's Natsu by the way) then grabbed Monkey. 's leg whilst it was extended and burned it with fire. Luffy's face turned to agony as he experienced the hot, sharp pain that was fire. In reaction, he swung his leg across the sky (with Natsu still holding on) and smashed his opponent into the large mast of the Red Clouds' ship. Pain seemed to not take notice of the damage being done to his own vessel. As Luffy's foot crashed into the mast with Natsu, wood splintered across the deck and the boat shook from side to side. Natsu kept hold of Luffy's leg and burst fire out of his feet, forcing himself to shoot off into the sky (again, still holding Luffy's leg) and shot off on a trajectory heading half for the heavens and half for the straw hats. "Whoa, whoa!" Luffy began to fall off balance as his leg was raised higher and higher. He could still feel the burning sensation of Natsu's grip.

"Oh no!" Nami squealed as she looked up at the Dragon slayer. Natsu was so high; he became silhouetted by the sun. Luffy panicked. He was covered in scorch marks by this point and his leg was next on the list for a burn. He quickly extended his arm so that he could catch his lower leg and pushed it back, hoping to make Natsu lose his grip and fling off into the ocean. However, Natsu was holding on tight. Instead of what Luffy had hoped for, his leg sprang back towards the ship and caught on the bow of the shit, causing his lower leg and Natsu to smash headlong on to the deck. At this point Natsu let go and flung across the deck, crashing to a halt at the centre of the mast. Luffy retracted his leg and then proceeded to extend his arms forward to grab the railing of the red cloud ship, pulling himself towards it once he had succeeded in grabbing hold of it. He then jumped over it and Pain, landing on the deck, close to where Natsu Dragneil had 'landed'. He had a very serious expression on his face. This fight was about to get interesting. Natsu had crashed down on the floor, yet…

"Aaaah…" Natsu breathed out as he got onto one knee. A strange orange aura emitted from his body. It was strong. It was powerful. Luffy could feel it in his blood. This fight was just starting. Natsu stood up straight and faced his opponent. He too was now serious about the fight. Neither wished to hurt the other, but neither could risk defeat. Luffy fought simply because he wished to settle this dispute. Natsu fought because he knew that Pain's words were true. His universe was at risk. The aura became stronger. Thicker. It caused the air to swirl, the wood to scorch, the water to boil. "Now I'm all fired up!" He threw his fists back. "Bring it on!"

"This is getting out of hand!" Nami cried.

"This is his fight." Usopp said calmly as he crossed his arms and looked down.

"What!? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Tsk… Honestly Nami. I thought you would have realized by now. This is one of those fights you just don't interfere with." Nami cocked her head, confused. "It's a battle for honour!"

"A battle for… honour?" She asked. Usopp nodded twice.

"You just have to believe he'll win."

"Since when do you care about honour?"

"You have to know all about honour when… YOU LEAD AN ARMY OF OVER TEN MILLION PIRATES!" Usopp roared over to the Fairy Tail pirates.

"Oh, I get it now. You were just setting yourself up for that." Nami said quietly.

"Seriously. He thought that would work?" Lucy shook her head.

"What idiot would believe that?" Grey crossed his arms.

"T-T-t…"

"Hmmm?" Lucy and Grey looked at their other team member. Erza was shivering in fear.

"T-ten million!" She screamed.

"Oh you've got to be kidding!" The other two shouted.

"YES!" Usopp stuck his hand in the air and his foot on the side of the ship. "TEN MILLION BLOODTHIRSTY PIRATES READY TO KILL ON MY COMMAND. MEN AND WOMEN OF ALL AGES COME TO THE GREAT… PIRATE KING USOPP…"

"What!?" Nami stepped back from him. He was really going for it.

"…TO JOIN MY VAST ARMADA OF EXTREMELY SKILLED PIRATES NUMBERING AT OVER A BILLION!"

"Didn't he say ten million before?" Grey asked.

"Yeah." Lucy replied. They both sighed in disappointment. This guy was stupid. Really stupid. Erza still shivered as Usopp made his speech.

"STATUES OF GOLD AND PLATINUM HAVE BEEN ERECTED IN HONOUR OF MY TRIUMPHS! I HAVE WRESTLED GIANT SEA KINGS INTO SUBMISSION! I HAVE SINGLE HANDEDLY FOUGHT OFF ARMIES NUMBERING IN THE THOUSANDS! I HAVE DEFEATED ALL WAR LORDS OF THE SEA USING NOTHING BUT MY RIGHT HAND! CROWDS DARE WHISPER MY NAME IN HOPES OF HEARING MORE ABOUT THE ADVENTURES OF… THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP!"

"Wasn't it Pirate king before?" Grey asked.

"Yeah." Lucy replied. They both sighed in disappointment. This man was stupid. Really stupid. Really, really stupid. The worst part, however, was the fact that Erza, the one who was least likely to fall for something like this, believed every word of it.

"I see." She said in a frail voice. "In that case. I cannot let you leave here alive!" She pointed her sword at him.

"WHAT!" Everyone shouted at once (save the people on the red cloud ship).

"Wait. Hold on a sec…" Usopp started.

"Erza, what are you thinking?" Grey asked, confused.

"This man is clearly in a place of great power. Defeating him will likely cause disarray in his vast armies."

"You can't be serious?" Grey asked.

"I think she's serious!" Lucy pulled a face.

"We must defeat this crew in order to protect fairy tail and everyone else in our world. This 'Usopp' figure is definitely the most powerful member of this crew. I will take him on. You take the others on."

"What!?" Everyone shouted again.

"Grey. Lucy." Erza started. "You know what the Red Cloud captain said was true, don't you. You have to do this whether we like it or not." The other two changed to a more serious expression. This was really happening.

"Can't we just take down the red clouds?" Grey questioned. "If we…

"That won't work." Erza interrupted. "You heard what he said. We've seen proof for ourselves. If we take down the red clouds, we still have to fight the straw hats and their vast armies in order to protect our universe from annihilation. There isn't another option." Grey sighed and looked down at his hands for a second.

"I'll get Juvia!" He ran towards the cabin.

"Oh and Grey?" Erza asked.

"What?"

"Put some clothes on." Grey looked at himself. He was only wearing boxer shorts.

"Aaah!" He looked around for clothes. "I don't have time for this." He continued towards the cabin. Just then, the cabin door burst open and a blue haired woman stepped out.

"Oh Grey, did I here you calling my name!" She danced her way over to him.

"I. What's all the noise about?" A small blue cat came out after here.

"Wait. Are you guys serious. Didn't you here any of this happening?" Grey was shocked by their dismissal of the current situation.

"Hear what?" Juvia asked. "I was asleep. It was wonderful. I had a lovely dream about y…" She paused and turned to see the straw hats, who were still in disbelief of what was happening. "Where did they come from?" She pointed at them. The straw hats all fell to the ground, hard.

"Listen Juvia." Grey said. "We have to fight those guys to protect fairy tail."

"Fight them?" Juvia stared at the straw hats. She stared the hardest at Nami.

"Huh? Why is she looking at me like that?" Nami asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like this!" Usopp frowned. "I think they seriously want to fight us!"

"Hey! Stop! We don't want to fight you!" Chopper jumped on the side of the ship and waved at the fairy tail pirates.

"Hey look!" The blue cat pointed at Chopper. "It's a Raccoon-Dog!"

"I am not a raccoon-dog! I am a reindeer!" He shouted. "You see these antlers!"

"Oh?" The blue cat looked harder. "I. I see them." He said quietly. "Wait a sec. Where's Natsu?" He turned to Grey.

"His on that ship, fighting one of the straw hats." Grey pointed at the red clouds' ship. The blue cat turned to look at it. It was large. Nearly ten times the size of the straw hats'.

"Gum-Gum Gatling!" Luffy sprang his arms forwards and backwards in a way which made it look like he had hundreds of hands simultaneously punching Natsu into the mast. After the onslaught was over, Natsu stepped forward and formed fire in his hands.

"That it? Now it's my turn."

* * *

"So then I can assume that you have completed your task." Breeze asked over the comm.

"Completed my task. Whoa, whoa. I don't have do tasks. This was a favour, that's all. One I hope you repay soon." Hades replied.

"Of course." Breeze gestured with his hands. "I shall assume that you have done the 'favour'?"

"You shall." Hades smiled. "They'll be prepared to fight soon. The little mortals won't know what hit 'em. And in return…"

"I shall help you to 'remove' Hercules, of course."

"Good, good." Hades used a playful voice. "I look forward to doing business with you again." He closed the comm. "Now then. I suppose you're all ready to fight then? Zack Fair, Auron, Jecht. You will be my first undead soldiers ready to fight before I release my titans. You will crush them beneath your feet! Breeze better pay up soon. I'm not a patient man."

* * *

**Luffy: I'd never lose to a guy like you!**

**Natsu: No way! I'm gonna wipe the floor with ya'!**

**Luffy: What'chu say! (Bangs head with Natsu)**

**Natsu: You heard me!**

**Look guys. It's kinda my decisio...**

**Both of them: Stay out-a this!**


	21. Upon a blue sea

**Chapter 21: Upon a blue sea**

Water crashed down on the decks of both pirate ships as Juvia attempted to take down the ginger, female member of the straw hats. Nami managed to dodge it, but droplets splashed onto her skin and caused her to flinch. This water was at a near boiling temperature.

"Whoa, she can control water! This is bad news!" Sanji looked at the devastation it caused to the deck of his ship. It was splintered and broken. The fairy tail wizards all turned to face him.

"When did he get on our ship?" Grey asked.

"Dunno." Lucy replied.

"What? You forgot about me?! I've been here the entire time!"

"Oh yeah." Lucy smiled. Her smile then faded and her tone changed. "He was that pervy guy that tried to hit on me!"

"This guy tried to perv on you?" A ginger man appeared. "How dare he!"

"Leo? I didn't call you out."

"I couldn't just leave you unprotected from perverts like him, could I?"

"Call him out?" Sanji said to himself. "What is… Hey wait a second! I'm not a pervert!" He pointed at Leo.

"I'll take this guy on Lucy. Everyone else should pick their target." Leo took a stance. Lucy nodded and got out of his way.

"Well at least that blonde beauty is out of the way. I really didn't want to hit a girl." Sanji kicked his leg out and prepared to fight his opponent.

"I know the feeling."

"Take this!" Erza swung down her sword at Usopp who was currently running away as fast as he could. He didn't have anywhere to run to, so he just ran around the ship and strafed from side to side. "Stay still." The redhead commanded as she struggled to get a hit in. After the next slash, Usopp quickly turned around to face her and let go of the band on his sling shot.

"Special technique! Super-hot flaming Tabasco star!" The small ball flew right into the back of Erza's throat and she swallowed it. Soon after, she was spitting out fire from her mouth and she clenched her throat.

"Damn it." She breathed heavily. That burns!" After the ordeal, her throat, mouth and lips were scorched and her speech became slurred as her tongue went numb. Erza re-quipped her armour so that she wore only cloth and bandages and wielded two katanas. With this set up it would be far easier to strike the long nosed man. Usopp coward and stepped back as Erza charged and swung her blades down.

"Hard point!" Chopper shouted as he ran between Usopp and Erza. He blocked the blades with his massive antlers and held them there. "Go Usopp. I'll take care of this one."

"Chopper, be careful. She's way out of your league." Usopp pleaded.

"Go! I can handle her."

"Don't do anything stupid!" Usopp ran off to find someone else to fight.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Erza shouted.

"Pay attention! I'm your opponent now!" Chopper thrust himself forward, causing Erza to lose balance. She jumped back just before chopper would have been able to hit her. The reindeer had changed. Before he was so small and weak. Now he was bigger and much stronger. Nami fell to the ground and rolled over just as she took out her weapon.

"All right. You use water. I've got something especially for you." She split her blue staff into three segments. Juvia looked down at her enemy. Her little tricks would be no match for the water that Juvia had. She smiled. The sooner this was over and done with, the more impressed Grey would be.

"Stand still!" Grey shouted as he attempted to freeze Usopp.

"Not again!" Usopp cried as he jumped off the ship and into the water. He began swimming to a flat, rock like structure in the ocean.

"Got ya now!" Grey froze the ocean's surface, stopping all of the ships from rocking about and trapping Usopp underneath. A bright light shone from under a patch of ice and it eventually exploded, creating a plume of smoke that bellowed from the hole that it had created. Usopp climbed out of it and stepped onto the ice, continuing on his path towards the rock. Grey stepped out onto the ice plain and chased after him.

"How are things going in the land of the pirates?" Breeze asked.

"Fine. The battle is steadily progressing as planned." Pain replied over his earpiece. He was aware of, yet completely ignored a section of his ship blowing up as Luffy was slammed into it.

"Good. I want a full report when you get back. It won't be long before Riptide brings the warriors of the land of the ninja into the land of the hearts."

* * *

Hayner looked around. The strange creatures were beginning to back off. Only the odd one or two attempted to attack him, and they were quickly dealt with.

"They finally laying off?" Hayner asked himself. "He prepared to strike again, but the creatures darted about and ran off. "Hey, come back!"

"Hayner!" A familiar voice called. Hayner relaxed and turned to face Olette.

"Olette? What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Roxas. Did you see that explosion?" She took no notice of Hayner's keyblade.

"Yeah I did. It was insane." He rubbed the back of his head.

"I know. Do you know where Roxas is?"

"Oh crap, Roxas!" Hayner panicked.

"What? What about Roxas." Olette asked. She was worried now.

"Follow me." He led her back towards the sandlot.

Roxas stood over Sasuke and stared at him. He had to find out what was going on.

"Roxas!" Kabuto ran over to him. "The grey things are backing off. We need to go find Hayner and look around for more of them…" He looked down at Sasuke. "Who's this guy?"

"A friend." Roxas said plainly.

"I saw you fighting him. You sure he's your friend?"

"Yeah. His heads just a bit messed up right now." Roxas turned around and looked at the creatures. Their numbers thinned as more and more ran away.

"Alright. I can perform some medical procedures if you want, but he really needs to get to a hospital."

"Go ahead." Roxas voice continued to be expressionless. He felt dizzy. A little sick even. A lot was happening and his body was changing in ways he couldn't understand. It was at this point that he fell to his knees and clutched his chest. It was very painful. He could feel it engrossing him. The pain taking over. His mind becoming clouded. The light was being brought to the surface.

* * *

"Mr-One, I'm glad to see that your mission was successful. Where is Miss-B?" Mr-Zero asked.

"She wanted to go and rescue Miss-C." Orochimaru smiled. "Though I don't see the point. Miss-C was always so weak."

"Well, she is useful in more than a few ways. At least this will give Miss-B a chance to prove her worth." Mr-Zero looked over his underling. Orochimaru was strange. He could never figure that man out and to be completely honest, he didn't trust him either. However, Mr-One was very useful. "Hand over the Lexicon and await your next assignment." He grunted. Orochimaru held out the Lexicon for Mr-Zero to take and turned to leave. Mr-Zero looked over the device. It was beautiful. It seemed so serene looking, yet it contained such vast power.

"Oh, Mr-Zero?" Orochimaru asked.

"What is it?" Mr-Zero suddenly became impatient now that he was in possession of something so valuable.

"I'd watch that Mr-Two. I don't think he's has our interests in mind."

"We're all here for power. What else could he want?" Mr-Zero placed the Lexicon down onto the small table next to his chair and lit up a cigar.

"No idea." Orochimaru laughed. He then proceeded to leave. Mr-Zero scoffed, then chuckled a bit and blew out some smoke.

"Power. What else could one want other than limitless power?"

* * *

The seas shook and waves crashed. The ice cracked and so did the wood that made up the very ships that the pirates used. The skies opened up and the sun shone down its bright rays upon the combatants who each wished to survive and willed to fight. They fought with all their strength. They fought on the blue seas of the land of the pirates.

* * *

**This chapter is shorter than most as it is just leading up to the next few chapters, which will all be called 'battle on the blue' part 1, 2, 3 etc. Each of these (also short) chapters will each be about the individual fights between the Straw hat pirates and the fairy tail pirates/wizards. Erza vs Chopper, Sanji vs Leo, Usopp vs Grey and Nami vs Juvia. These will lead up to the big fight between Luffy and Natsu. And then I will reveal...**


	22. Battle on the blue part 1

**Chapter 22: Battle on the blue - part 1**

Erza slashed at the reindeer and he blocked it with ease. His antlers here harder than they looked. Erza re-quipped into black armour and wielded a large black blade. These outfits seemed unusually revealing for their purpose but they did their job. She swung out sideways and sent Chopper flying out the side of the ship, parts of the ship flying with him. He crashed into the ice plain. Snow burst upwards as the reindeer skidded to a halt and began to get back up on his feet. Erza followed him down and waited for him to stand again before making her next strike. However, Chopper struggled to stand straight on the ice. Unusual considering that he used to live in a near arctic location, but his hooves weren't built for walking on such surfaces. He skidded about a bit before landing flat on his stomach. Erza charged at him and swung her blade, impatient of waiting for her opponent to regain his balance. Chopper quickly changed his form again. This time he jumped out of Erza's way and onto another part of the ice. Erza's strike obliterated a section of the ice and she lifted her sword back up and faced chopper.

'He can change form, just as I can re-quip.' She studied her opponent. Tony Chopper the reindeer was now much more agile and could balance on the ice as if it were concrete. 'Just like I can change my load-out, he can change his form in order to adapt to my changes. I'll change weapons and armour to adapt to his adjustments and he'll change form in order to adapt to my new weapons. It's obvious now that we were the perfect opponents for each other.'

'She's pretty strong.' Chopper thought to himself. It doesn't look like she'll back down or give me any openings, so I'll just have to guess at her movements. If I can just find a weak point, I can veto her use of that armour by using a technique perfectly matched to dealing with her. This armour is her strongest so far, it doesn't seem to give her increased speed like the last, but her sword has extra kick.' Erza changed her armour and weapon once again. This time she went straight back into wielding the katanas and charged at Chopper with incredible speed. "That won't work!" He shouted. Chopper changed back into his hard point form and blocked Erza's attack again. The fairy tail wizard then quickly backed up and changed into her black armour and swung out at the straw hat pirate. Tony changed into his more agile form again and sprung into the air, easily dodging Erza's attack. He waited until he was right above her, and then changed into a form that had massive arms and came down at the woman with impressive strength, smashing the ice, where Erza had dodged from. The noise was incredible as whole sections of the plain shattered. Through the cloud of snow, chopper (in his hard point form) charged at Erza and caught her off guard. Erza quickly swung as fast as she could as her opponent changed into a big ball of fluff, absorbing the shock of the strike with ease. As Erza swung, Chopper was sent flying into the sky, completely unharmed. He then changed into his little pipsqueak form and looked straight down at Erza. He put his paws together and formed a diamond shape with his hoofs. Tony analysed his enemy carefully as his ascent began to slow down. She had to have a weak point somewhere…. "Of course!" He realized. He relaxed and fell through the air backwards. Just before he hit the ground, chopper changed to his agile form and landed perfectly, running at Erza as fast as he could. She didn't have time to re-quip. Erza swung horizontally and Tony jumped over it and changed into his strong armed form. He then punched Erza in the face with full force. She recoiled and fell backwards into the ice. Chopper had succeeded in taking her down. However, this was short lived. Erza rolled back and re-quipped into armour. The lightning goddess armour. She swung her weapon and lightning shot forward at Chopper. He wasn't fast enough to dodge it and there was no time to change into a better suited form. "Aaaah!" He screamed as he was impacted with a great force and immediatly shocked afterwards. Chopper fell to the ground, charred by the shock and still twitching too. He grimaced. This did not look good. All he had done was giving Erza a bruised cheek and making her fall over. She had electrocuted his entire body and sent him crashing into the ground. She glared at him; half out of pity and half out of sheer determination to defeat him.

"I could never ask you to give up." Erza started. "Not with what's at stake..."

'What's at stake?' Chopper thought to himself. 'Does she actually believe what that nutjob pirate captain was saying?'

"... However, I can't afford to lose either, so don't push yourself. Make this easier on yourself. You can't beat me. Just die honorably instead of running around, looking for a desperate way to wi..."

"SHUT UP!" Chopper interupted. Erza paused. "I know your stronger than I am. An idiot could see that!" Chopper struggled to get back on his feet. "But no matter how you phrase it, I'm not giving up! I could never betray my friends like that! He changed back into his more agile form as he regained his balance. "I'm gonna win!" He shot forwards with immense speed. Erza re-quipped into her black armour just as Chopper reached her. He skidded to a halt as he slid past where she had been standing. He came to a halt and looked up. "She can fly!?" Erza looked down at Chopper.

'He's fiighting for the same reason I am. It was wrong of me to treat him any less than I would have him treat me. It would also be wrong if I didn't give it my all. It would dishonour him as a fellow warrior fighting for his friends.' She flew down towards him, sword at the ready. Chopper took his stance. "Give me your all!" She shouted. Chopper glared at her and prepared to do what he must in order to win. Erza shot down like a bullet and lunged her sword out. It would be a killing blow. She made contact. A crash of snow waved outwards and the wind intensified as she made her strike. Her sword had gone all the way down that it was almost touching the ice. Erza frowned. She didn't want to have to kill him, but this couldn't have ended any other way. Chopper's face had recoiled from the blast. Erza couldn't see his face or the wound. Not that she'd want to. Yet... Her sword tugged slightly. Erza's eyes opened wider and her frown grew wider as she realized what was happening. Chopper grinned as he turned his head to look at her. He had caught her sword in his mouth.

"What th...?" Erza was shocked. Tony threw his head out and smacked Erza hard with his antlers and let go of the blade. Erza was sent flying backwards and she rolled backwards before catching her balance and skidding the rest of the way, snow moving aside as she did so. Chopper sprang forward. He was unbelievably fast this time. His charge was filled with all the vigour he had left in him. All of his determination.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Chopper screamed as the air literally burst out of his way. He was so close now. He could not lose. He has to win. Erza changed into her Abyssal set just as she finished skidding and swung her weapon back and gritted her teeth, glaring at Chopper once more. This time solely out of sheer determination.

"RAAAAGH!" She screamed as she swung the enormous weapon forwards. Chopper was literally inches from Erza when the weapon made contact. It struck him from the side and sent him crashing across the ice. Chopper tumbled through the ice in an arc, destroying it and creating plumes of snow as he did. Eventually he stopped when he crashed into a rock face on one side of the small island. Some of the rock was blown to pieces as Tony crashed into it and his body left a dent in the stone. The dust and the snow finally settled and Erza was left standing with her weapon tightly gripped in her hands. She panted for a bit, then looked up to see the trail of destruction her strike had left. At the end of it, Tony Chopper lay unconscious in the broken section of the rock.


	23. Battle on the blue part 2

**Chapter 23: Battle on the blue - part 2**

Nami fell to the ground as a massive wave of water crashed over the deck. The wood splintered and cracked as boiling hot water smashed into it at an alarming velocity. Nami was once more sprinkled with this water. It steamed off her skin as it made contact.

"Aaaah!" She squealed. By the end of this she would be roasted. It's bad enough that this woman could use water as a power and even transform into it (which would be bad for any devil fruit user like Luffy, Chopper, Brook or Robin), but the water is also hot enough to burn your skin. It was at this point that a thought crossed Nami's mind. 'Brook, Robin… Frankie, Zoro. Things would be going a lot more smoothly right now if they were here. Especially Zoro. He's easily one of the strongest on the team. Where the hell are they and why did they leave?'

"Pay attention." Juvia said calmly. Another blast of water hit the deck and Nami scrambled to get out of the way. It was close. The blast would have hit her had Juvia not warned her. Nami looked up and examined Juvia. She was a very pale skinned girl with long blue hair and unusual clothes. Although it might only look that way since the bottom half of her body was currently made out of water. She floated above the deck, close to the cabin and stared back down at Nami. "This won't take long." She remarked.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?" Nami grinned. She was trying to look tough but it wasn't working. Juvia simply continued to stare and lifted her hand.

"Drip, drip, drop." Another blast of water headed for Nami. This time it hit her directly in the gut. Nami opened her mouth as the shock took hold of her. She then flew backwards and crashed back down onto the deck. Juvia looked down at her as she struggled to get up. She could almost feel sorry for the girl. In fact she did to an extent. She didn't like causing people pain, even if they are the enemy. However, that was simply the case. Nami was her enemy and she had to be defeated. Juvia raised her arm and swung it down. "I will win!"

"Don't count on it." Nami stood on one knee and swung her weapon out. A cascade of water hit the weapon dead on, splashing over Nami afterwards. It was painful, but she braved it. This would be worth the pain. An electrical current ran along the stream of water and back to Juvia.

"Aaaah!" She screamed as the electric shock took place. She writhed around as the currents of electricity ran through her. She wasn't grounded, but her watery form caused the electrocution to be extremely effective. Juvia fell to the ground, her body returning to normal as the water collected back into her.

"Did I do it?" Nami asked herself as she brushed back her hair and looked over at the blue haired girl on the ground.

"Uh…" Juvia moaned as she got back up on her feet. "I won't lose now. Not now."

'What is she moaning about?' Nami thought to herself. She began twirling her staff around. Hot and cold air began spraying out from both ends. Juvia looked up just as a heat bubble hit her.

"Warm." She said plainly. A cold air bubble hit her. "Cool." She was confused. Was this weapon supposed to harm her? Was it supposed to distract her?

"Here it comes. I hope you're ready!" Juvia looked at Nami; a stunned expression on her face.

'Is this going to be some sort of special attack?'

"The forecast says it's gonna be cloudy with a chance of storms!" She twirled the staff faster and then stopped. Clouds formed over the sky. They were dark and made crashing sounds in the heavens. And then the heavens opened up (it's a saying for heavy rain f.y.i).

"Rain?" Juvia held out a hand. She could feel the water hitting her skin. Caressing it. She smiled. 'What is she thinking, making it rain when she's fighting me.'

"Now." Nami shouted. Juvia's eyes opened wide in sudden realization. The rain hit her skin and splashed around. It coated her. She was no longer safe. Even outside of her watery form, the lightning could…

"Aaaah!" She cried as a lightning bolt struck her. She collapsed onto her knees. Nami should have been struck too. How did this make any sense? She looked up at the rain pouring down onto her face. The cloud was small. So small it only rained on her. Just like old times. The rain had betrayed her.

"This rain is so gloomy." A voice said. Juvia opened her eyes to find herself in the past. It was his voice. She hated it. The way even he said it. Not that it made any difference. Everyone had remarked how gloomy it was to be around her. The rain always followed her. Kept her from making friends. Kept her alone and in the dark with nobody to even talk to.

"Drip, drip, drop." She said to herself. Nami relaxed her stance and made a confused look.

The rain was her ally and yet her greatest enemy. In battle it became a weapon. In life outside fights it became a dagger in the back. She liked the rain. But it was unforgiving. Then she met him. Grey. She thought her was like all of the others; that he thought that she was gloomy. He hated her rain. But it was different. He was different. True, she tried to kill him the first time they met. However, after that instance, the rain finally stopped. The rain that had been dogging her since she could remember. Afterwards, she joined up so that she could be close to Grey and make friends with new people. Friends. That's what she had back at Fairy Tail. The group she travels with now are the ones she considers to be her closest friends. She fought for them and she couldn't let them down. If she lost that would be like betraying them.

"I could never do that." She said to herself. She knew what was at stake. Nami looked at Juvia. She was beginning to tear up.

"Is she… crying?" Nami lowered her staff. She then shook her head and readied to fight again. "No, I can't feel sorry for her. I have to win. My friends are counting on me!" Juvia continued to look at the rain cloud. Rain water poured down her face as well as tears.

* * *

"Who the heck are you anyway?!" Natsu asked, throwing right arm back and balling his left hand into a fist.

"Hey, hey. That's not very polite." The man said. He leaned forward and pointed his finger at Natsu.

"Huh?"

"You should always introduce yourself first."

"I'm Natsu Dragneil of Fairy Tail! What's it to you?!" Natsu shouted.

"Whoa, whoa. No need to get your panties in a twist. The name's… uh… let me think now."

"YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR OWN NAME!"

"Ah… I've got it. Sharpie."

"Your name's sharpie?"

"It's obviously a fake name, dummy." Grey waved his hand at Natsu.

"What d'you call me, dumb-ass!?" Natsu exclaimed.

"Who are you calling dumb-ass? You dumb ass!" Grey smacked heads with Natsu.

"I'm callin' you a dumb-ass! You know why?"

"Why?!"

"Cus' you're a dumb-ass, ya dumb-ass!"

"OH YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

"Well you're a…"

"Knock it off!" Erza smacked them both into the ground.

"Grey!" Juvia shouted.

"Ow." Grey rubbed his head as he got up.

"Hey, why'd you hit me?!" Natsu shouted.

"Because… you're a dumb-ass." She hit him into the ground again. "Now tell us how to get out of here." She asked Sharpie. The man was dressed in a black hooded cloak emblazoned with red clouds. He had his hood down so the mystery wasn't there, but he seemed suspicious. Sharpie had slicked back hair which was sectioned into grey and black stripes. He had a scar on his left cheek, and most notably wore an eye patch. For some reason his ears were sharp and his eyes were yellow.

"Well you take one a those things." He pointed at a large, organic looking, white structure.

* * *

Juvia would come to remember that white structure. She would remember those red clouds and she would remember what happened between then and coming to this world. There was so much at stake here. She couldn't let her friends down. She looked at the ground. Her eyes to low down for Nami to see. Nami looked at Juvia, momentarily shocked as she realized what was happening. The rain poured over her face and the tears ran down her cheeks. But the water didn't go away. It formed with her. Parts of her face changed into pure water. Eventually her entire body began changing. Her head, torso, arms, legs and hair. She looked up at Nami. She no longer looked like the pale faced 'rain girl' from before. She looked like some sort of water goddess made entirely of the element that she sported, her hair flowing as gracefully as the rest of her body.

"I won't let them down!" She screamed and burst forward with impressive speed. Water trailed behind her as she moved towards her opponent. Nami stood her ground and swung her weapon. A ball of lightning shot out and hit Juvia just as she reached her target. Juvia was immediately electrocuted, but that didn't stop her. She lived through the pain and struck Nami with full force. Nami flew backwards and crashed into the deck once more. This time she didn't get up. At least not for the first few minutes. By this time, Juvia's mind had wandered onto the Red cloud's flag and then onto Grey's battle. She contemplated helping him. It was his fight, so she might just be dishonouring him in some way or even getting in his way. Grey was stronger that she was after all.

*Crash* Juvia freaked out as something shot right past her. She turned to see the destruction to the cabin.

"That almost hit me!" She calmed herself and put on a poker face. 'What was that?' She stared at the broken wood and the massive hole left in the object's wake. Then some of the wood began to move. Natsu burst out from underneath.

"That all you got!" He shouted as fire burst from his feet and he shot back towards the Red cloud's ship.

"Was that Natsu?"

"Looks like your guy isn't doing so well." Nami smirked as she began to clamber back onto her feet. Juvia returned her attention to Nami.

"Neither is your rubber man." She remarked.

"You know. Even if you beat me, it won't make any difference. This fight is down to Luffy and the guy with the pink hair." Nami sat down and leaned back on the ships railing. She breathed heavily and grimaced from the pain caused by her burns. She was no longer in any condition to fight. Juvia looked at her, then at the raging battle taking place on the red cloud's ship. Luffy vs Natsu. That would be the decider. Yet Erza might be able to help turn the tide. She is one of Fairy Tail's strongest fighters after all. "Don't even think about it." Juvia looked back down at Nami. "You'll just get in the way." Nami clenched her teeth and held her side. 'If I let that girl use her water powers on Luffy, he's finished. Water is a devil fruit user's worst enemy.' Juvia sighed and looked back up at the red cloud pirate Pain. Pain and his accomplices acted as if there was nothing going on around them. They just stood there.

"I know."

* * *

**I know this is a little late but** **I've been checking the spellings and such on other chapters. Plus I couldn't seem to connect to the 'manage stories page earlier. I'll get the next 'battle on the blue' chapter out to you real soon!**


	24. Battle on the blue part 3

**Chapter 24: Battle on the blue part - 3**

"Breeze."

"Yes?"

"There is something unusual that I'd like to report."

"Go ahead."

"I have been studying the battles that have taken place so far. I have also greatly examined the files we have on both the Fairy tail wizards and the Straw hat pirates. It would seem that neither side is fighting at full strength. It would seem as though they have all forgotten how to use specific abilities that would have given them the advantage or have simply dropped phenomenally in fighting skill."

"I've yet to hear the 'unusual' part."

"That's it. They all seem like they're different people. There is no way the files could be right…"

"The reports are as accurate as they can get. These people are holding back."

"Holding back?"

"That's what I said, is it not?"

"What reason could they possibly have? Their motives are to protect their 'friends' from total annihilation. I have fought one who wished to protect his friends; his powers were exponentially stronger than anticipated."

"As have I. They are certainly a force to be reckoned with. However, both the 'straw hats' and the 'fairy tail wizards' realize that they fight opponents who are in the same position. They sympathise with each other. Even though they may be enemies, they become subconsciously unable to fight at full power. They may believe that they are 'giving it their all', but they simply cannot. Overly good hearted people find it troubling and difficult to fight those of the same cloth. That is why it is so difficult to discern their full potential from our point of view."

"I see."

"Something still bothering you? I don't have all day for idle chat…"

"It's just… that Luffy and Natsu. They started fighting like the others as you said; weakened. Yet their power grows stronger and much more fierce as this battle wages on."

"Yes. It would seem that their willpowers may be stronger than their own minds. They are utterly determined. They fight for their friends and they won't back down no matter who gets in the way. Before I cut the communications, I shall give you some friendly advice."

"Hmm. Friendly advice?"

"I learnt this the hard way. Whatever you do, even if you are forced to hurt these kind of peoples friends. People like Luffy or Natsu. Never insult their friend's honour or hurt their friends in a way that is not critical to achieving your goal. If you decide to go against this, no matter how weak your opponent may seem… if they are at all like Luffy or Natsu… you will most likely not see the next sunrise."

* * *

"Exploding star!" Usopp shouted. He released the band on his slingshot and a pellet shot forward, hitting Grey dead centre in his chest. Grey fell to the ground, but didn't seem that dissuaded by the explosion. He was just as prepared to fight as ever. He continued to follow Usopp towards the island and ran after him as fast as his legs would take him.

"Damn you!"

"Hahahahahahaha!" Usopp laughed as he ran towards the rocky island. "You can't catch me!" Actually, he was kind of half laughing, half crying.

"Hey come back here!"

"Hahahahaha!" 'Oh crap, why does this keep happening to me?"

"Take this!" Grey stopped running and threw his hand forwards. Ice appeared and shot towards Usopp. He wasn't facing Grey, so he couldn't see where the shot was. It hit the ground behind Usopp and splashed over his right leg, much like ordinary water would. However, it instantly hardened, freezing Usopp's leg.

"Oh crap!"

"That should stop you from moving." Grey smiled. He casually walked towards Usopp at a slow pace. The dark haired straw hat member pulled on his leg as he tried to break free.

'It won't budge!' He frowned. Grey was nearly ten metres away from him. "Stop right there!" Usopp shouted as he turned to face his opponent. It was awkward as right leg was stuck facing the opposite direction. Usopp managed to face Grey, however. Grey stopped and looked at Usopp. He aimed his slingshot at Grey. "Stop or I'll shoot. Don't think I won't. This is a special super-hot flaming insta-death star… so don't move a muscle." Usopp smiled. 'I've got him. He actually thinks that this exploding star is a super-hot flaming insta-death star!' He began laughing to himself. "Hahahaha."

"This guy can't be serious." Grey had a sullen look on his face. "He doesn't actually think that anyone would believe that, does he?" Grey frowned, then grinned. "Now that you're immobilized, this'll be easy!"

"Huh?" Usopp stared at Grey who had just created some sort of ice ballista.

"Take this!" Hundreds of ice bolts flung out of the ballista and into the sky. They then began to drop down towards Usopp.

"Oh crap, crap, crap." Usopp panicked. He pointed his slingshot just off where his frozen foot was. 'I hope this works!' "Exploding star!" He let go of the sling.

*Boom* the ice exploded around him and smoke mixed with snow rose from the ground.

"What the…?" Grey tried to see into the smoke, but it was too hard to make out anything. The ice bolts shot into the smoke and pummelled the ground. Grey looked harder. The snow settled and the smoke cleared. Usopp was nowhere to be found. Grey looked up a little. Usopp was standing on the edge of the rocky plain. "How'd he get all the way over there?"

"I am…" Usopp panted heavily. "I am the mighty captain Usopp! Fear my incredible power and speed! I have outrun even the fastest of stallions!"

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" Usopp scrambled out of the way of the incoming ice bolts. He dodged left and right in order to avoid them. 'They're everywhere!' He ran at full pelt towards the island as the ice blew up around him.

'What an idiot.' Grey scratched the back of his head. "You're pretty fast when you're running away." He grinned. Usopp froze.

'I'm… running away? Am I being a coward? No, not after what I've been through. There is no way I can let my friends down. I'm not running away. I'm just getting the high ground for this fight.' "To say that I'm running away is insulting. It insults me and more importantly the trust my friends have of me!"

"Hmm?" Grey stared at him and began walking towards him again.

"Don't you dare insult my friends!" Usopp pulled the sling back.

"You're not gonna…" Suddenly a led pellet shot past Grey, cutting his cheek.

"I warned you!" Usopp scowled. "That was just a warning shot. Next is the real thing!"

"The… real thing?" Grey lifted an eyebrow. "This guy…" He looked over the strange man. Usopp was watching water drain from the thousand suns (the straw hat ship). It gushed out from the top deck where that blue haired girl was going nuts.

'I hope Nami's okay." Usopp thought to himself. 'Ever since her clima tact broke, she's had to make due with a downgraded version. This is the worst timing ever.' "Huh?" He looked ahead of himself. Grey was much closer now. Usopp panicked. "Take this!" He pulled back on the band attached to his slingshot. On the inside was an array of shuriken. "Shuriken star!" He shouted. A mass of shuriken stuck together flung out towards Grey. The ice-make wizard simply continued to walk towards his opponent. The shuriken suddenly split apart into countless individual shuriken flying out over a large area. They crashed into the ground at and around Grey's location. Snow rose up from the ground, but quickly settled to reveal a large spike of ice that had blocked some of the shuriken from hitting Grey, who then let the ice spike crumble and looked back at Usopp.

"This guy… He's like me." He said to himself.

"Damn. I didn't get him… Wait a sec." Usopp stared in disbelief as the sight before him became much clearer. "Where the hell are your clothes!?" He pointed at his enemy.

"Huh?" Grey looked down. "Aaaaaaaah! What the hell!" He suddenly realized that he was now only wearing his boxer shorts. His trousers were held tightly in his left hand.

"This guy's not too bright, is he?" Usopp mumbled.

"Hey, I heard that!" Grey immediately dropped his clothes and ran towards Usopp with speed that greatly outmatched most runners. However…

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Usopp turned tail and ran deeper into the rocky terrain. He ran at a blinding speed. He has had a lot of practice after all. He then quickly stopped and turned around, weapon at the ready. Grey had already caught up with him. He was so close, it was impossible to dodge. "USOPP!" The band creaked at the strain. It was ready to fire. Grey tried to stop, but he'd been running too fast. This is what he had planned. This was all according to Usopp's plan. That's what ran through Grey's mind as he struggled to come to a stop.

'No. Not like this. It can't be… Is this it? Is this how it was always supposed to end? I guess trickery was his thing after all. He caught me out and now he's going to use his special final move that he's been saving just for this moment. We're… we're both fighting for the same reason, but on different sides. I shouldn't have underestimated him. Of course he'd have something up his sleeve. But I can't lose now. I can't allow myself to lose. Not when the lives of my friends are at stake! I must win! I have to win! EVEN IF HE HITS ME WITH EVERYTHING HE'S GOT, I WILL CONTINUE TO STAND AND FIGHT!' His eyes narrowed and his face showed the expression of pure determination to destroy his enemy, at any cost. He slammed his foot into the ground, causing the rock to crack. His eyes were full of rage. His fist readied to strike after Usopp's amazing shot. Nothing could stop him from winning now. Even if Usopp's next attack was devastating, it could never stop Grey's will to fight!

"Rubber band of doom." The band flicked into Grey's forehead, then contracted and hung loosely around Usopp's thumb. Grey stood square in front of Usopp, unable to make the hit. He just stood there and stared at his opponent in disbelief. There was a long, awkward silence that hung in the air. Grey couldn't produce the words to ask himself what the hell just happened. His head stung a tiny bit from the rubber band hitting him, but no more than it would to get poked.

"W-what?" Grey stood, frozen (ironically), confused.

"HA HA! Got you!" Usopp took a step back and threw out a glass bottle at the wizard, who was still frozen in disbelief. Grey only had enough time to come to his senses when it hit him. The glass shattered on his chest and the contents of the bottle.

"What the…" Grey looked himself over. He was covered in some sort of liquid. "What is…"

"Ha!" Usopp tripped up on a large rock behind him and flew backwards into the air. However, he still had Grey in his sights. "Alcohol burns! Flame STAR!" He let go of the sling and the pellet flew straight into Grey, setting the alcohol alight on his skin.

"Aaah!" Grey shouted as he felt a burning sensation cover his entire body.

"Got ya!" Usopp said as he the ground. He leaned forwards and examined the burning man before him. He had definitely been fooled. 'Usopp the great lured him into such a genius trap.' "Yes, I, captain Usopp the magnificent have defeated yet another mighty foe!" He shouted to himself.

"What's that about me being defeated?"

"Wha…?" Usopp got up and stared at Grey. He looked in a hell of a lot of pain. However…

"Aaaaaaargh!" Cool air surrounded Grey and ice began to creep up his body. The floor around him froze and the air itself became solid. The fire quickly settled and vanished as Grey's body temperature plummeted below what was humanly possible to survive. "Grey was surrounded by ice, which crept ever so slowly towards the edges of the rocky island. He looked at the ground. His eyes obscured by his hair. He gritted his teeth and made small grunt like sounds. Too put it simply… he looked pissed.

"Heee!" Usopp coward. His legs shivered, and not just from the cold. He gulped as Grey finally lifted his head. His eyes were not yet in plain view, though.

"This is a new technique that I've been working on recently. I haven't had time to perfect it yet. However, it'll serve its purpose." He straight at Usopp, his eyes fit with fury. "Absolute Zero!" He sprang towards Usopp and brought his dominant arm to the ready. Usopp tried to pull something out of his bag, anything. He jumped back to give himself more time but he couldn't get his slingshot ready. Grey stopped in front of him and grabbed him by the neck. The air became cold around them. The ground became ice. Even the sweat from Usopp's body began to crystalize. Usopp could feel his body losing heat. His limbs felt weak. "Absolute Zero is a technique where I lower my body so much that everything I touch tries to give off heat to create equilibrium. However, my body stays at absolute zero temperature, making all efforts of nature to heat me up useless. Everything simply loses its heat and freezes, cold as ice.

"He… ha ha…" Usopp struggled to laugh.

"Huh?"

"You don't… s-s-seem to r-realiz-ze… When you were distracted by my s-shuriken-n…" He struggled to talk as his body temperature plummeted. "I-I p-placed a breath dial down, filling this whole area with g-gas."

"A breath dial?" Grey wondered what that could be, then realized that the important part was the gas. "I thought something smelled funny… so what?"

"Gas-s… als-so burns-s." Usopp revealed a pellet that he had taken out of his bag before he was grabbed. His hand relaxed and the pellet dropped to the ground. As it hit the ice-covered stone, it cracked and produced a brilliant light. The light quickly became more intense and then…

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!* An explosion covered the entirety of the rocky plane.

"What the hell was that!?" Juvia turned to see the spot where Grey had been standing full of light and intense heat from the incredible explosion. She had only defeated the ginger girl recently and had been looking up at the red cloud flag when it happened. "Grey!" She was about to move towards the battlefield, when her eyes focused on something. Grey flew backwards and landed on the ice plane, skidding to a halt. He brought his arms from in front of his face to his sides. He was fine, save for a few burn marks.

Grey looked into the dust, snow and rubble left by the explosion and rubbed his cheek.

"Where the hell is he?" Grey asked himself. As if to answer his question, Usopp dashed out of the smoke, flailing his arms at his opponent. Grey grinned and held his hand up as Usopp came closer. "Ice make: sword!" An ice sword formed in his hand and he swung down with tremendous force, only to find himself unable to lower his weapon any further. Grey was stunned, and upon closer inspection, realized that Usopp had blocked his attack with something. But what was it?

"Huh… That looked like it would hurt!" Usopp grinned, and then looked up at Grey. "Let's find out if I'm right." He pushed Grey's arm to the side and stuck some sort of shell in front of his face. "IMPACT DIAL!" He shouted. A sudden burst of energy hit Grey dead centre in the face, causing him to be sent flying. He crashed back down onto the ice and tried to regain his balance.

"Hahahaha! I got you!"

"Grey!" Juvia called down to him.

"I'm alright!" He quickly replied as he stood up. "You're really getting on my nerves!" Grey moved his arms and hands into the correct position. "So I'll finish this quickly. Ice make: BAZOOKA!" An ice bazooka appeared in his hands and prepared to fire.

"Oh crap!" Usopp looked around. There were no places to hide. Nowhere to run. No tricks to pull… unless… He fumbled around in his bag for the right tool.

"Time to get blown away!" Grey shouted. The barrel of the bazooka began to light.

"I'm outta time!" Usopp pulled out the first thing he could find and prepared to use it. "Ha, it's the… AHHHHHHH!" He looked at his newly equipped weapon. It was the rubber band of doom.

"Times up." Grey pulled the trigger. Usopp looked up. This was it. The bazooka was going to fire and…

*Crash* Suddenly, Grey was hit from the side and his bazooka went off, hitting a patch of ice in the distance. The thing that hit Grey carried him around in an arc until they hit a large rock near the rocky plane. Usopp stared in disbelief at what had caused such an event.

"Way to go chopper!" He gave his reindeer friend the thumbs up. However, there was no reply. Usopp looked closer. Grey was certainly in a daze, but Chopper was utterly unconscious. Something didn't quite add up. It was then that he felt a dark presence looming behind him, sending shivers down his spine. "Aaaaaaaaah!"

*Thump* He hit the ground and drooled as he lay unconscious. Erza frowned.

"I'm disappointed. You couldn't take THIS GUY out?!" She exclaimed.

"Hey, I would've if you hadn't hit me with fluffy here!" Grey pushed the unconscious reindeer off his torso.

* * *

**Yay! My exams are finally over. That means more free time (perhaps to write more on this fanfiction).**


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